back from GW2

Personally, I'm not too keen on GW2. Played it for the majority of today, and I have a lot of complaints.

To summarize, it feels like they had us put on blinders and introduced us to a skill system designed for special ed students.

The combat feels stiff
Lack of overall skill customization
Personal story lines feel forced
Overflow queues
Event grinds

The only props I can muster to give GW2 is for it's graphics and including the ability to jump, neither of which count for much IMHO.

The biggest thing I miss is point to click. I can understand why, since they don't want you to draw a path from the ground to a vista, but it's still annoying. They should limit it to a certain Z-axis height.

Character creation is starting to piss me off.

Yesterday the login servers for character creation were swarmed or down (needed for the last step).

Today i was almost done creating a character, i get suddenly kicked back to the char creation start screen, ALL progress gone. Grrrrr.
Maybe i took to long, those facial features take me alot time.

You can still move with your mouse... you just can't click-to-move. There's a difference, and yes, click-to-move has been removed from the mechanics.

However, you can do the same alternative mouse movement available in GW1 - hold down both L & R mouse keys and direct yourself by moving the mouse (or, in my case, by thumbing the trackball).

I still love GW1... its place in my top 5 games of all time is forever secure. I think, however, that somewhere there's a disconnect between what ANet has been telling us for years and what GW1 fans (in particular) have been hearing... that becomes really clear while reading Map Chat in GW2. This really was a completely new game set in our same beloved Tyria. I think we're only just now truly seeing how true that really is.

GW2 has a pretty steep learning curve - it doesn't actually matter what ones previous MMO experience has been... if a player hasn't been haunting Guru2, fansites & YouTube throughout the last year+ of development, they're now missing out on so much that makes GW2 move into the realm of "amazing." The devil - or in this case, the diamond - is in the details.

Just one example: I have already encountered no less than (and possibly more I don't remember) twenty different people asking in Map Chat if someone can "run" them to other cities. Just a few hours ago I stood in the Asuran starter zone watching someone ask, "how much should I offer for a run to Lion's Arch?" This wasn't someone trolling... another player offered to show them how to get there through Rata Sum and they accepted.

I adore GW2, and I'm a huge ANet fan, but in my opinion they've done a rather poor job of helping their own existing fan base transition to the new game. Most of us love GW1 for a reason - and somewhere in our reason is the fact that it IS so different from other MMOs. ANet has vocalized similarities like not having to worry about kill steals/griefing/loot stealing - a big plus for GW1 players and a big difference from other MMOs - and that's great. But more effort should have been put into outlining the differences between their own two titles, and doing so in such a way that moving from GW1 to GW2 would be easier.

It's a big adjustment. And worse, you damn near need a degree in "Guild Wars 2 Details" to enjoy the game. There's so much to learn it's overwhelming if you haven't followed it through development - and by "followed" I really mean "obsessed over it." I'm one of the ones who obsessed over it and I'm STILL finding myself confused by the most mundane things.

But - I'm also finding that being patient with my own confusion and my own learning pace is turning out to be exceptionally rewarding.

If I can get so lost in your world that I've been actively interacting with the game for hours... and haven't actually had to kill anything if I didn't want to... all because I've found some secret passage you hid away inside the "safe" zone of a city that leads me to a treasure chest that gives me a nice reward?

You've done something enormously right.

I have voiced my extreme dislike in no point-and-click already, so I'll leave that one alone.

I do NOT like the HUGE move away from GW1. I think they devoted a whole lot of resources for nothing. For example: Divinity's Reach. The ONLY thing you do is map it out? Really??? Mapping????? Yeah, the graphics are pretty, but......SO WHAT!!!???? And PLEASE allow me the opportunity to cut all the fanbois off before they start foaming at the mouth to claim it plays a role in your personal storyline: what few times you have to progress the line by going into it, they could have simply integrated it into another location!

And I don't really see what is so great about 150 people throwing the smackdown on 1 boss! Dodging and jumping don't mean CRAP to THAT!!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: GW2 was designed to cater more to a PvP player base and less to a PvE player base. In my opinion, that was a foolish move, considering PvE is where they've been getting their money for YEARS now!

tried a char in GW2 on someone's account, its way harder than GW for me, so i'll never buy it... just as i predicted

if the start is that hard, the healing is that low and its recharge high, and gotta get help from others alot, no thx

so as addition to my first "no" post.... "HELL NO to GW2 for me"

tbh, its not the system, its the difficulty for me (remember, i'm slow due to some handicaps)

pvpers i know would disagree, not would, they do, we think it sucks, at least all my friends i've seen since they tried GW2, perhaps for a broader view have a look at qq forums, but anyway, we agree on the crucial matter, bad control affects both pve and pvp, anet have taken the basic movement control of gw1 and many other games and thought they can do better, and failed

I want my 7 Heroes!

I find the PvP to be far superior to the the original Gw's and so far I am enjoying the PvE heavily. It isn't the same game at all so either find new things you like or its not for you. I have my gripes but it is still early enough in the game that they will get fixed. I know most of you weren't around for original gw beta/ release like I was but the game had tons of annoying things. Refund points for attributes to name just one.

Refund points were around for quite a while after release too!

Have to agree, the control and UI are terrible. Camera too is mind-bogglingly bad. Entering into one of those building instance dungeons you are just fighting with the camera all the time while being jumped by enemies that you can't see because of the camera. Too early to say yet, but the compass seems useless compared to the GW equivalent.

Latest annoyance for me is npc that follows you around and stands in your face so that the F key is useless! There isn;t even anything to talk to him about!

Bottom line: GW felt different to all other MMOs, GW2 feels the same but with bad UI and control.

...and despite that example of what not to do and the near universal approval of the current GW1 respec system**, in GW2 we have to pay to respec.

(...and to fast travel and to repair damaged equipment, for some unjustifiable reason. Given that the more you get downed, the more fragile you get and the more easily you become defeated and will pretty much miss the rest of the event, additional punishment is unnecessary. And coinage is rare enough that gold sinks are just a kick in the teeth.)

** (ie, respec any time and as much as you want, as long as you are in a safe area; in GW1, that was towns and outposts, in GW2 that could translate to the cities and near any of the numerous waypoints that aren't under the effects of a dynamic event)

I miss the mouse-point-to-go movement of GW1, but I can probably remap controls to get a similar effect. Other than that... I'm confused, and I hates being confused.

It's a good job I also bought the GW2 GuideBook. My bedtime reading I thinks.

I can see the probs for the "click to move" crowd. I have never been a clicker so it feels totally the same to me. The animations are more fluid in gw2 to me. It moves a little slower, but yeah it's a different game. I love both games to be perfectly honest, but the one thing that shines in gw2 above all else is the game world. It is a living, breathing, Tyria that feels like the NPC's and players live there. The attention to detail that ArenaNet took with that game is astonishing. From the Shiverpeaks to swimming in the ocean south of LA along island chains there is breathtaking. The puzzles are fantastically created the deeper in you go. The DE chains get more complex and I have already seen some in the 40-50 level range that have gone down very different paths than the first time I played them. I had a whole group of NPC's do something completely different in the exact same spot in the game world than the first time I played the event.

Buying the box just to see the locations in Tyria is worth it. If all you care about are combat mechanics and GW2 isn't your cup of tea, then that is understandable.

I miss playing as a monk

SOO much complaining.

Anet isn't to be blame, they did WARN and TELL everyone that GW2 will be a completely different game! You should probably already know that before buying the game. Obviously should have done more research, since you head 2 years to do so.

Maybe if you guys play the game, without comparing it so much to GW1, you guys might enjoy it.

GW1 is dead, its time to move on. I know some of you wont admit it, cause your still so in love with GW1.

Don't get me wrong i love GW1, played for 6 years. I recently log back on, and it looks pretty dead. Face it, GW1 was a great game and has it golden days, but 85% of the GW1 community is gone, and its not coming back.

useful, however, perhaps if you read my post, you'd understand, as for ''it's another game, well done, i hadn't realised that, and ''Anet isn't to blame'' i didn't realise that either, perhaps it's just a manifestation of market instability? i didn't play with 85% of the community, i'm a pvper, i don't really care about pver's opinions, the movement controls are bad, end of

''Obviously should have done more research, since you head 2 years to do so'' i've no idea what you mean here, unless it's the research people who started playing GW1 2 years ago did, i started in june 05, with no research, my gf was playing it, anyway, a helpful post, you've persauded me to go back to gw2...oh wait

Should have done research to buy a game? Don't think so - I don't remember being WARNED and TOLD it was a completely different game. Implicitly, by connecting the Hall of Monuments, it would be sensible to assume some kind of similarity. Calling it Guild Wars 2 is manipulative, opportunistic marketing on their part.

Also, for a game to be delayed for a matter of years and still be so unpolished is mind-boggling. It was foolish of me to spend £60 pre-ordering it.

Good point. And there's the concept of providing fans what they want to keep them. When the third or fourth Rocky movie was made, the character Rocky didn't make a transition into wrestling in the Olympics. That wouldn't have gone over well with Rocky fans. There has got to be a way to make a game like GW 1 but with an open world and all that and more advanced visuals and controls and more. A lot of GW 1 gamers have gotten used to the controls and gameplay to the point where it's like driving or being natural with a musical instrument. Why change it up?

Guildwars is NOT dead. Just because YOU like the other game better does not mean everyone else will. I am just fine with playing the first (and best) guildwars. I enjoy playing with my heroes (and husband), I play a ritualist and like to monk. I like to pick ALL of my skills, I like having a secondary profession so I can use ALL of the skills that were made for the game. I use my mouse to click and move....none of this is available in that other game. I also HATE having 1000000 little kids playing in my instance. 8 players is plenty to deal with at one time. I do NOT like guildwars 2, I will NOT play it, nor will I buy it. It moved too far from what guildwars is for me to even think of it as a 'sequel'.

and as for the community being gone....that doesnt affect me, my hubby or our heroes.

So many issues that ruin the experience.The worlds is nasty. And will cost real money to get all my friends from GW together to play.Major RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GOup!That said,changing worlds can't be done at the moment.Can't register on the gw2 guru.Not much to praise right now.Looks like GW still rules.The noobie won't last as long without some big changes.Same stuff being repeated over and over will get old real quick.

Cosyfiep, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy Guild Wars 2, and therefore thats why you didn't buy it. My message was directed towards people who bought the game, believing that it would be like Guild Wars 1.

I love both game equally the same, but I came into Guild Wars 2 expecting it not to be anything like Guild Wars 1, that's why I enjoy it. If I did buy the game expecting similarity between both games, of course I would be disappointed.

Also I guess we both have very different view on the game being dead, I enjoy Guild Wars 1 because I like teaming up with people in town, to do quest/mission/farm/etc. Population grew less, not enough people to team up with. Thats when the game died for me, but I'm happy that you can still enjoy guild wars 1.


And to reply to the other post towards me. You don't remember be told or warned, about Guild Wars 2 to be a completely different game? I at least thought you would have the sense to look at youtube videos of Guild Wars 2 (if you see any Video of GW2, you would have realized right away it is a completely different game)or done research of your own before getting it. And What I mean by 2 years is that, thats when Anet, announced that they would stop making expansion and work on a new game, Guild Wars 2.

@xgottadollax I just dont like being told what to do...I have no problems with people enjoying or not enjoying the other game, I dont like being told that I should leave this game for whatever reason. I ENJOY the game the way it is ---I dont 'power trade' and the people I team up with are, GASP, ALL staying with guildwars (for some of the reasons already mentioned)....so for you, great go play whatever you wish, just please dont tell me I should be playing something else, I can make my own decisions, thank you.

GW2 is shit in pretty much every conceivable way. PvE, PvP, it doesn't matter. Shit man. Thanks for dumbing down your game for idiots, Anet.

I played gw1 a lot so I didn't mind paying for gw2 but this game is trash lol. The targeting system, the movement, skill customization, graphics is barely upgraded and the fact that it is basically a single player game, meh.

Well, I think we have the best of both worlds here: Both games are doing well. GW1 isn't dead. I have logged in a few times and the game has busy lobbies. For a game that came out over 7 years ago, GW1 has a healthy player base.

GW2 is an expertly crafted game in terms of quality. It was painstakingly made. This wasn't a game that was thrown together just to make money. If it isn't your cup of tea that is understandable. The thing that I find amusing is how many people that thought GW1 was going to fizzle out. It didn't. GW2 also isn't going anywhere. In my opinion, Tyria has never looked better.

GW had alot of fixes they had to make, and skills they had to change and/or remove
i wasnt there yet, i got to GW a lil later, but GW2 will have the same

alot of people prolly left GW early back then for some pvp or even pve reasons, but came back and enjoyed GW after certain fixes/changes

be patient, GW2 will get its fixes/changes soon enough

alot of people already enjoy GW2 now, so it'll be much better (like in GW's golden years) after a while

not giving a name, but i know of a game which still has bad bugs/broken stuff they still didnt fix... and no, its not WoW, as i dont know that one

anyway, just wait and see.... even though i dont like GW2 for my own reasons, i still think its nice, but can use some changes
heck, maybe i'll buy it once stuff get fixed (some parts made easier to me, maybe)

to give you a sample:
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/List_of_removed_skills

and i heard GW had gwen destroying ascalon city (yes, in town) and in the guildhall "isle of the dead" (saw video's on youtube)
all got fixed, so GW2 will change anytime soon, too

what i do like of GW2 more than in GW, are crafting and dye systems.... and the gem-way to get stuff (and getting gems ingame)

GW2 is new, yet has a few things i'd rather see in GW by far
now when GW2 is getting to its top, it'll be much better (still gotta keep an eye out, maybe i'll buy it then) together with the points i prefer in GW2 over some stuff in GW

i bet about a few months, people will return (hey, no fees anyways) and will enjoy it more than they ever did.... maybe after a year or 1 and a half - 2, it'll be much better than GW ever was, who knows

ps. this from someone who wont buy it as it is now (by far)

Well, i have a friend a little retarded, no offense, almost borderline, well, this guy has some difficulties to play and understand GW1 mechanics and battle system.

Now this guy loves and masters GW2, thats said.

Expertly crafted in the opinion of the marketing morons at Anet, maybe. I'm not going to even begin to start a discussion on the game design failings or especially the clusterRED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO that all PvP types are in GW2 with someone who can't see how obviously horrible it is for themselves, but just look at the UI. It's missing essential functionality that was present in GW1. We may not have used all of these features, but everyone can surely agree that the lack of them is a severe step back for the players that used them.

No customization, no ability to move windows or effectively resize them. Can't even hide elements of the UI, if for example you don't want to see the map (which auto-spoils 95% of the game's exploration as soon as you enter the area. Anet assumes everyone is a mouthbreathing retard with no ability to find things for themselves).

Can't reorder your skills. Don't want your heal ability all the way over on #6? RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO you. Don't want your Combo finisher to jump from #3 to #4 to #2 depending on what weapon/element you have equipped? RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO you.

No ability to click to move. Wouldn't want people to be able to control their characters well.

Skill descriptions go from basic to utterly bare of important information. Let me quote a skill my elementalist has: "Gain a chance for spells to inflict a condition based on your attunement. (list of conditions here)." Wouldn't knowing the chance be a useful piece of knowledge? Anet says RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO you.

It's like no one who worked on GW1 even looked at what the GW2 team was doing. It's an unmitigated disaster. And before someone starts up a point-by-point rebuttal, let me say that they are missing the point. None of these are fundamental problems that break the game entirely. I in fact expect a lot of them to be fixed in the not too distant future, and I could bear all of them right now if the gameplay was up to snuff. The problem is that nearly everything in GW2 adds together to show that the developers simply did not give a RED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GORED ENGINE GO about GW1 players and only wanted to poach people from WoW and drive people to their new in-game cash shop.

The amusing part about your reply is you missed my point. I said in terms of quality. The world feels lived in. There aren't many game worlds that feel as lively as GW2. Say what you want about skills and the other things. The quality of the design of the world of Tyria from landscapes to cities, environments, and climates is pretty brilliant. I was talking quality of the game world itself and you totally glossed over my point in your response while making an argument against things I wasn't even discussing.

The the ability to interact with the world isn't part of the quality then what is? Can I show you a blank screen and ask you to imagine the whole thing?

FWIW though, my post was more of a generic rage one than specifically directed at you.

I have been trying to play GW2 for a week and should never have been the "Guild Wars" franchise name - yes it was made by the same developers, but for an entirely different market, ie, the PvP and console market. Why:

1. Guilds are basically dead at this point (dedicated servers to accomodate the PvP for WvWvW), etc and the cost of changing servers, etc.
2. A story line that only takes "sinpits" of lore from from GW1 (THE GAME OF THE YEAR - in case people forgot), with no connection to WOC, which was to be the tie in story line.
3. A UI which is not ergonomic, but again built for a different market (not GW1 PVE) but sPVP, so yes your hands might hurt playing this game - mine do if stay on for more 30 minutes (but the grind is so bad that I don't even want to play for more than 30 minutes).
4. A"personal" story that is truely forgetable as you have to take large breaks to "grind" levels so that you can continue onward and an inability to capture skills (I have gone to Lv26 and won't have enough coin to buy the 2nd skill book - where I guess you can get "elites" til probably Lv40-50 LOL - I won't play that long)
5. Anet made a business decision, not to keep our true GW engine and evolve from "WOC" (I still am wondering where Canthan policitics are headed), but go for a "kithcen sink" MMO game (part Aion, Diablo III, Age Of Conan, Rift...) for market share.
6. Hopefully someone from the "kickstart" funds will get the rights to continue GW1 storyline.
7. Guns with massive damage simply do not fit into the GW1 environment - again another addition to garner more player, esp, FPS console types.

I could go on for pages, but just don't have the time (got to find Nick), so the so called and oxymornically named "Guild Wars 2" is not a game I can appricate nor enjoy.

PS. Go GW1 (oh and I did not even mention the outrageous cost for micro-transactions, $25 dollars to change servers so your "guild" can really play together - are you kidding me.)

I bought a copy for two reasons...the first being that the overwhelming majority of the people I regularly play with have migrated. The second being that I desperately hope they change course and bring more GW1 elements into this other game that just so happens to be called Guild Wars.

A little familiarity would have really gone a long way here. My little group are veteran GW1 players and typically very chatty so I couldn't help but notice how quiet the channels were. Granted, people are busy playing but I'm sure the change to the chat system UI doesn't help. Was it really necessary to totally overhaul even mundane details like that from the first game? You get used to it eventually, sure, but whatever happened to "if it ain't broke don't fix it"?

You mean when the nerfs come to #2 and I still see those skills they didn't get rid of them.

I've been playing GW2 for almost a week and will probably gravitate back to GW1 after awhile. In spite of all the open betas and stress tests, plus all the testing that should have gone on during development, there are still so many things that need to be worked on. How sad.

Grind is the major activity in GW2. Trades, such as Chef and Jeweler, have resulted in players farming for ingredients and materials for their recipes. Queensdale is a good example of this. It's similar to Pre-Searing Ascalon in that it's where new Human characters start. However, it's pretty much overrun by high-level characters over-farming anything and everything in the entire zone. Who could have guessed that trades would have caused that? Ponder ....

At first it was neat being able to join other players while exploring, but I'm finding that most of them are really farming an event and then - poof - they're gone. Apparently they're cycling through events in a zone to earn whatever each one rewards. So give me my heroes back - maybe not seven, but two or three would be nice.

I still intend to try an Engineer because players are blazing through the Queensdale area with their down-leveled Engineers. The Asura Engineers are actually pretty cute.

fixing gwen destroying everything also is a nerf? sounds like you say that

nerfs or changes... prolly, but also some of the game's system

anyway, as you've prolly (hope so) seen, i didnt mention JUST skills, and gave that as example of GW's past

newer example:
the woc quests which were too hard, like the one in cho estate, and the one in marketplace (exploreable) on HM

i only mentioned early stuff, as thats what made people think the game isnt that nice, but after some fixes and changes, people liked it much more

hope you understand it now, Age...... as i already was clear in the other post, i think

The only thing I can recall regarding Gwen destroying things, was when they closed the betas.... that wasn't a bug.....

You mean "both" PvP types. "All" would imply there were many types rather than just two.

I miss having three maps - main, area (windowed and able to be resized to max screen size and moved anywhere you wanted), and rotating mini/compass map. Also miss having a UI where you could move and resize virtually everything to your own personal preferences. Also miss the !@#$% chat start/channel selection that results in far fewer wrong channel chats than the /channel system. And an incoming damage monitor - would be so nice to be able to know WHAT is actually hitting you (and maybe even where from) so that maybe you can take countermeasures, and so on...

----------

Not really. Too many invisible walls, slopes you can't jump up that are identical in height and grade to others that you have no problem with, and the big one: unnatural terrain designed to fit into most every zone's perfectly rectangular shape (with the cities being more squared, 'cept for the circular Divinity's Reach) rather than the zone shaped to fit the terrain. Among many other problems, of course.

whats funniest is, people KNEW it was going to be different
then most people got GW cuz it was different, right? yet now that GW2 is different from other MMO's and GW in many aspects, people complain its too different

as i said: just wait til most is fixed/balanced, then come back to this topic.... give them like 4 months, i guess

would you mind coming back to this topic then?

and it's not different, it's much of the same but worse than other MMOs, now glad you find it all funny, but it's not what this thread is about

perhaps see you in four months

When people see "Guild Wars 2", they expect "Guild Wars 1 but better". In fact, when Anet decided not to make more expansions they flat out said that they wanted to make a better Guild Wars from the ground up rather than expand upon a flawed base forever (and everyone will admit that GW1 was flawed in a lot of ways).

What people don't expect is for GW2 to mean "WoW with areas/lore/music recycled from GW1". GW1 was different, GW2 is the same MMO crap with a different paint job and the smallest bit of lip service paid towards GW1. It's not something that can be fixed through balance or addons. Playing GW2 is like showing up to a chess tournament and finding out that everyone agreed to play Rock em Sock em robots instead without telling you.