Pre-Sear perfect in some ways?

i dont know...something about the system pre-searing has is just perfect in my opinion.

In pre-sear, the exp distribution and leveling system makes for a player to have a bit of a challenge as well as take some time in order to get to high levels (you can't just get to lvl 20 in 1-2 days)

the damage system allows for you to take on monsters SOLO without you being able to kill them to fast not have them kill you too fast (unless they are some sorta boss monster...like the Skale Brood)

if the entire game went like this, then players would progress through the game without gaining levels like mad, they would practically finish the game without being level 20 (but of course ascention changes that) then players AFTER beating the game would continue to fight monstes to get to higher levels in order to compete in high level PvP arenas.

i don't know, but the system seems to work nicely, you don't NEED a group for you to kill things, you don't NEED a monk to stay alive, you don't NEED to deal with whiners when you go exploring, and overall it gives you the challenge every game needs.

I made a character made for purely pre-searing and so far it is getting quite difficult to get high levels, but with this system you don't need a high level to be happy in the game and still have fun.

It's nice to be able to solo and enjoy everything, but then again some people would prefer the fast level 20 and rely on skill over stats. Also the game is designed to be a party game, so if you could solo through the whole thing it wouldn't even be a multiplayer RPG. It would be too easy if you went with a group, and going alone gets a little boring after a while.

What? Pre-searing was perfect in your mind? I gain 6 levels in 3 hours in presearing, roughly speaking. Once you know your way around there it is fast and easy. I found that if you aren't rushed/twinked the post searing areas levelled quite smoothly, if slowly.

Pre-searing is so easy it is funny - it's amazingly fast XP gain as you can solo everything there excepting the Charr north of the wall (which you might be able to solo as well, but I found tough with a 4-8 damage weapon and no monk class). You can accomplish piles of quests lightning fast and gain levels ultra rapidly. If the game were like pre-searing there would be no point to having a party system as you could breeze everything yourself - I like that the missions require teamwork.

having a hard time with whiners?henchmen are your savior

I made the mistake of trying to solo searing when I got there ... didn't make that mistake again - Pre-searing is just meant to be a training ground to the 'real' 'game' anyway

Agreed - I hardly ever team up with other players - they are a bunch of babies the majority of the time. I find as long as you hold ctrl when you attack someone the henchmen will all go for your target too - which stops the being idiots or tank (you know who I'm talking about Alesia)

Actually you don't even have to cold ctrl. Henchmen will *always* attack your target, which sometimes isn't a great thing, but it's a lot better than what some players will do.

I think the main focus of Guild Wars is team play, both in PvE and PvP. Making it so that you didn't need a team would kinda screw that up a little. It's good that they came up with a compromise though -- henchmen are there for those of us that aren't so keen on following people who rush through the game, whining and swearing all the way.

Personally, I prefer to NEED some help in a game. I don't see how going into a situation knowing you'll probably live (with no death penalty either) is much of a challenge. The most fun I've had in this game (and others) is when my group turned a corner and collectively said "Oh ***t!"

Pre-searing is a lot of fun and I do like how it is set up. As a 'tutorial' it's the best I've seen. But the first time I ran into the Charr, I knew this was going to be a fun game and I couldn't wait to see what happened when I went post-searing.

Exactly. Killing a bunch of river skale on your own is nothing. You don't care, you don't even notice you did it. But going over the wall... there are few better feelings than the first time you and a friend are outnumbered by vastly superior Charr... and win without dying once! A game would be nothing without challenge of some kind. Find me a game which (intentionally) makes itself easy and gives you everything from the get-go and I'll give you a medal.

i dont mean to have it that easy, you gave a good example of this with the charr...i just really dislike how you require a monk who can listen in the later parts of the game.

i love a challenge to, that is exactly why i made my pre-searing character (i am actually just gonna try and solo the entire pre-sear and try to getto lvl20...taking hella long time though)

and you are wrong about the extremely fast exp etc. in pre-sear, i have finished all the quests i could find in pe-sear and am only 1/2 past lvl 7, then you of course NEED someone to help out against the charr, but i would rather have it so you dont need the MONK all the time either.

Right now the charr are the only thing that are a challenge anymore in pre-sear and you can't find too many peopel that want to go hunting with you (they all want to run to post-searing for better armor/weps etc.)

All i am saying is that pre-searing has a good setup...you can go it alone for alot of parts for major exporation, then there are parts that really challenge you and you bring a friend along.

Post searign does NOT have this...you NEED a team at all times even to get to basic storyline areas or to explore anywhere, which i find a pain.

and since there are no hench in pre-sear is am GLAD the team limit is set to max 2, because sicne you need another human player, it will be less likely they will be retarded and piss you off by running in different directions or something of the sort.

Edit: also i have posted several times about a system where when you enter a zone, it reads your level and amount of players in your party and ACCORDINGLY sets the difficulty of your enemeis so that they are a challenge (like Diablo2..."player has entered. Diablo's Minions Grow Stronger or "player has left. Diablo's Minions Weaken")

Edit again: if anyone wants to go charr huntin with meh, just add me to friends and i will go :P ~~ IGN: The Unseared

You can't - you only gain experience from creatures that are within some number of levels (~6 I think?) after which they are worth 0. There are no creatures of high enough level to get you to 20 that I know of - I've wiped out a lot of Charr north of the wall including the big group at the doomsday machine, they ranged up to lvl 10 or so which might allow getting to about level 16.

I said fast, I didn't say never-ending. The creatures in pre-searing are limited to about level 5 on the south side of the wall, for the most part they are lvl 3 and below. If you do what I did to hit 7 in 3 hours or so you rack up your experience as fast as possible with your basic skills, killing until you are a few levels above the level 3 mobs, then you run the quests to get the fixed experience bonuses once the mobs aren't paying off as fast - after all 1000 experience when you are earning a pile per monster is less valuable than 1000 experience when you are earning little per monster. It took ages to get to level 9, but 7 was fast. No point in using quest experience to gain the low levels; it's better to gain those vs enemies - follow that rule and you'll level fast at first vs enemies, then fast again as you do all the quests.

You can do basically everything with henchmen if you don't like partying. The need for a team is to promote teamwork.