My Experiences so far with GW

Yeap, another one of these threads.. hope this is the right forum for it. Don't worry though, this is not a rant thread/post. Heh, although there is definately one aspect of the game that drives me nuts so far, tho in a way it';s a good thing... but more on that later. I'll try and keep this orderly.

I bought the game 2 days after it came out and been playing in on and off since then. I fully admit I have never completed the game in this time and the furthest I have gotten is to the Borlis Pass mission. I realize that I'm only a small way through, but heck I'm having fun still. And thats what it';s all about for me. Fun. I'm very happy i bought this game since I feel like I've definately gotten my money's worth (even having not finished the game.. LOL i have 90+ games and finished all of like 10 of them.. LOL!!)

My 1st character was a E/R. Didn't get too far b4 swapping to a E/Me. Again I didn't get too far.. I got to Serenity Temple with the 2nd and Ascalon city with the 1st character. I love playing mages, but I was finding myself dying too often as well as not being able to time my AoE spells very well.. so was sucking hard-core. My own fault really, wasn't playing very well.. and the game wasn't really helping me find my feet anyways..

soo, I switched over to a boring old W/Mo. Yep, stock standard crummy Paladin build.. and boy is it fun! I don't even use the monk side. The only monk skill I have on my bar is ressurrect to get alesia back when she inevitably dies. LOL

And now onto some points. (some rantsa, some not)

1. Alesia dying. This is both a rant and a godsend really.

On the rant side I'm sick of absolutely every critter in the game targeting Alesia. No matter what, they will target her. Heck, they will even switch from me/stefan/thom to her even if we have them nearly to death. Yes I know this might be considered realistic strategy.. but it makes things pretty frustrating when I see a monster, start sprinting and reach it way ahead of anyomne else (except Stefan) and start pummling it.. it attacks back.. but the moment Alesia gets in range it stops attacking me to run after Alesia.

now this is good in one way because it saves my health foir a bit.. but it's frustrating because I then start playing chase the monjster... because when Alesia starts getting hit on.. she will 70-80% of the time try and run away... and so the monster will chase her.. with me & stefan chasing the monster... just makes it frustrating.

It just means whenever I get in a fight I have the choice of running at a critter.. or calling a target and waiting by Alesia for the monsters to come to her.. because 99% of the time everything will attack her.

Now this does have a good side for me. I have learnt a hellava lot more about trying to keep someone alive than had they not gone straight for her. Now I'm not always successfull and have to ressurect her, but I'm learning more about what critters to take out to try and keep her alive the longest. so it's definately got it's good side.. I just wish that monster's had a better priority listing.. and not just "attack blindly any and all monks in the enemy ranks".. because there have been times i was saved by this response.. they nearly had me dead.. just to stop attacking me because Alesia just got in range... stupid AI in that respect IMO (and stupid me for nearly dying.. LOL).

Overall it's annoying and can be frustrating, but it seems to be somewhat realistic considering I always try and take out the critters healer's 1st if possible. heh So the computer is just doing just what I do.. but it can be stupid about it at time (ie changing to healer right b4 killing the warrior, which lets warrior kill the enmy then..) and in the end it's helped me learn more about how to deal with groups and keeping 1 character alive. I'm not perfect, but i'm getting there.

2. Enchantments - why have them in the game past Surmia :P

Really, why bother since every single group I've come across has shatter enchantments. LOL course I have to admit I was a total moron at first when it came down to this.

I was enjoying running around with mending on. Cool, +2 pip's of health at all times! Actually, it did help me out early on to learn the ropes and see what did what and how different things worked and how to fight as a W/Mo against different critters. The missions of the north wall and fort ranik rocked with mending. Heh, Fort Ranik I didn't mend myself until the initial charr were dead. I put it on the NPC you got the bonus for. afterwards I put it on myself.

Then I hit Ruins of Surmia mission. Course I was still a bit of an ignoramace about fighting and such. I got their I think purely because W/Mo is so darned easy to play.. esp with Mending. heh. So in I run and fight the evil, evil devourer's .. and then the charr. i'm thinking "wow this is easy.."

So finally got right into Charr territory.. and whoa.. my hp is dropping and not going up.. Kill the evil charr and wonder "huh? what happened?.. then I see no Mending.. so put it back on.. completely ignorant of why mending was off.. So run to the next fight... just to have mending wiped off yet again..

and yet again stupid me just put's it back on again... next fight.. I target this charr called a chariot..(spelling?) .. course I hadn't been paying too much attention to charr names b4 now.... when I notrice it casting.. "Shatter enchantment".. I'm like.. duhh.. so thats what happened to my mending.. so kill it and wack mending on.. whoops.. there was another chariot.. bye bye mending. Soo.. kill it and the other critters..

move on after re-casting mending on myself (slow learner eh? LOL).. spot the next fight.. and guess what.. yep.. another chariot. so I just said screw it, cancelled mending and went without it for the rest of the mission.

Noloni actually was quite fun and I did it with mending on a lot since there were more fights than not where mending would stay on. Then I got to Shiverpeaks.. and then I remembered someone posting on these forums about how enchantments were useless.. Course I'm still hopeful that my mending will be usefull. pfft.. Wonder about and quickly work out never, ever to have an enchantment on since it'll be stripped every fight and I'll loose some hp.

So really, why even bother having Enchantments in PvE if every group has a mesmer there or someone with enchantment breaking spells? LOL They are good for low level ppl where that doesn't exist.. but for me I'm thinking i'll leave the enchantments well enough alone...

Oh, and to those who say that critters only shatter once. That never happened to me. I've tested it, and every time I tried re-casting mending.. it got shattered by the same critter.

3. Learning curve.

I must say that pre-searing didn't help me too much learn how to fight properly after searing. The critter's weren't hostile like in post-searing and the ai for the critters there seems even more stupid than some stupid players (like me LOL). That did change somewhat in old-ascalon and surrounds, I learnt fairly quickly (once playing my W/Mo .. I never did learn much when playing my E/? .. LOL) what monsters to target and more about how to fight.

Then I did the missions. I really think they need to re-do them somehow. Stop making the npc's in the missions suicidal maniac's! LOL They shouldn't think they are invincible. Really. Prince Rurick is the worst of the lot so far! Having the npc's your with running around half-mad and attacking group after group without thought for the players or the fact that they are making fights 10x harder than they need to be by drawing every critter in the map to them... does *not* help the player learn anything about pulling, drawing, divide&conquor, sneaking, etc. All it teaches is to run after the npc and try and keep them alive while they act like stupid idiots :P

Ruins of Surmia was a real PITA with Prince Rurick running oiff... usually when I had no energy left and I was using energy for cyclone axe and heals (mainly on prince.. pfft!). I was lucky as a Warrior with mostly adren skills.. I could run after him and not suffer too badly.. I feel sorry for E's and such who need to wait a bit for energy...

Then of course I hit Shiverspeak. And boy was that an eye-opener for me. i was full of confidense and was used to my "charge at the enemy" tactics working... they did for the Prince :P ... course I died a few times because I drew in like 2-4 groups at once :P I was actually getting a bit smarter and quicker of nearning.. which is good..

It was here that I learned the careful art of sneaking past/through groups, drawing and just fighting 1 group at a time (you can do this even with henchies) as well as learning better how to keep Alesia alive. It was a hard slog, but I am getting the hang of fighting without mendin on, sneaking past or through groups so as to attack either one from a better angle or just avoid them completely. I'm learning better how to pick & choose what groupos to fight, how to fight them and how to choose what monsters to fight in what order.

Pre-searing and the missions up to around Shiverspeak really didn't do that much to help me fight. All I ever did was blindly charge at them and attack. worked for me then. But that don't work in shiverspeak.. gotta be a whole lot smarter to fight there.. can't draw more than 2 groups at once as that will be a lot, lot of pain :P..

The learning curve for me really started when I got to Yak's Bend in shiverspeak.. because it was only there that I started to learn how to actually fight and play. I was forced to because of the nature of the map, groups, etc. everything b4 that had soo not helped build me up to that kind of fighting.

4. Noloni Academy - wheee

Ok, short bit here. but this was a fun mission for me. I haven't doine the bonus yet.. but the main part definately had it's elements. I have to say I am glad I had a bow on my at the time (I always have a bow handy.. just in case.. heh) as I found that being able to find spots where I could pick enemy charr off from high ground was fun!! Especially since they couldn't get me back. hahaha! Made things a whole lot easier in the end..

Actually, thinking back on my past point.. this mission was definatelya good lead up to the learning to pull only 1/small groups. Because thats what I did in the end... after decimating the chars ranks with mt mighy 6-12 bow .. hehehe. would come in on an angle to just pull a small amount away... Cause I saw if I went charging blindly in (ie if Prince Rurick was leading the goup) I'd likely pull all 3 groups and proceed to die.. LOL I wasn't as stupid doing that mission as I had been during the previous mission.

My only gripe is that there weren't more places to snipe the charr at and not more charr to snipe. hehehe

5. Loot. woah!

I must say, I never really consiered how much loot I'm loosing by having henchies with me all the time... at least not until today. i've always had enough money to day what i wanted.. so wasn't an issue. My characters have always had 1.8-2K gold when leaving pre-searing... easily enough to get the best armor crafted..

Anyways, decided to go and finish mapping some area's which I hadn't mapped (and finish a few quests while I was at it). Decided not to take any henchies.. as I was confident that I could kill everything and could use mending (mapping old ascalon, etc.

So I happily go and start mapping... and boy was I stunned at te amount of gold and items that got dropped. I just mapped, killed and eventually found myself in front of Fort Runick and selling my loot at the merchant there. after what seemed like no time at all I'd made 2K gold... a hellava lot more than I usually make it the same time.

And I wasn't even farming. Really. All I was doing was wondering around fighting stuff that was in my way. It prolly took me 2-3 hours or so to do.. but what shocked me wasn't really the amount.. but the sheer number of drops that I had been missing by taking henchies with me...
..

I just want to thank anyone who's bothered to read this far. I don't know why i'm making this post.. just wanted to share some of my experiences and thoughts so far concerning Guild Wars. .. 1 more issue. a definate rant.

6. "skipping cutscenes"

I will say this is probably the biggest reason (apart from being on dial-up and no TS or Vent) why I detest playing with other players.

I like watching the cutscenes. I will always watch them if I haven';t seen them before or for quite soome time. Thats the kind of player I am - however I find a lot of players don't want to view the cutscenes at all.. and some will even ebuse ppl who want to watch them.

This is why I detest going from pre-searing to post-searing. Especially after my last chaarcter. It had been like 2 months since I'd gotten to post-searing, so wanted to see the cutscene again. Unfortunately got put into the PvP part... we won that fight.. got to the next part and easily killed the Charr. then came the cutscene.. the other person wanted to skip, I didn't. So we watched it...

And afterwards the person raced to the npc, raced to ascalon, droppe dthe group and then proceeded to give me hell about not skipping the scene and thus slowing them down since they were hurry'ing to meet someone. how dare I was something as garbage as the cutscene.. it's only for n00bs. well pfft to you and onto my ignore list they went.

but from what I've seen on these forums, that person isn't alone in at least the respect of not wanting to view cutscenes. I won't ever play in a group which has ppl who refuse or don't want to view cutscenes. I paid my money for the game and I'm damned well going to get my money's worth for it.

IMO they should break the group up once you kill the Charr. This way if you want to watch the searing.. you can, without having to wonder if your going to be insulted and abused by the other player(s) who might have wanted to skip the cutscene.

anyways, that and the Alesia being targetd 99% of the time are really my only rants about the game. Well, they could make the learnign curve for fighting more friendly.. LOL but it's all good if you ask me.

In the end I don't regret buying GW. I may never finish the game. who knows. I hardly ever finish any game I buy... but I've enjoyed the game immensely. the graphics are lovely.. and the sound-track when it plays is very nice and well done. Altho I admit I listed to CD's through WinAmp now when playing, well when I'm not doing missions tho. I'll go back to GW music/sound for missions... but otherwise it'll be music cd's.

thank you to those wo read it all, and please don't flame me too badly. I'm just your average joe game player who admits he ain't that good a play.. but having a ball and learning a hellava lot more about tactics and strategy than I had in a long, long time.

Heh, on a personal note.. it's sorta embarrassing for me since years ago I used to play another online game where you could group together. It's combat was turn based tho. But I was pretty darned good at it and very good in groups if I do say so myself. LOL Little boasting I know, but in groups it was a lot of the time me who made the call of who should move to where and/or what they need to attack. Then I had a big break from that, came and joined GW.. and find I suck at the RT combat and my idea of strategy at first was "run in and attack!".. LOL Oh wells.. thats all changing and back to being a thinker.. even if I'm a stupid Warrior.. hehehehehe

The End.

When the monster stops attacking you, Thom and Stefan and goes after Alesia and she runs, and it follows and you follow, and Stefan and Thom folow... this is the Benny Hill effect. Alesia is good for that.

I like watching the cutscenes too. Just a note of something you may not know... if you are watching a cutscene, but it sounds like or looks like a monster is attacking one of your party during the cutscene? Skip right away... because a monster is attacking one of your party during the cutscene.

I haven't read your full post, but I just want to say that (it sounds like) you're relying too much on the henchies.

Join another group of players and you'll have a lot more fun.

Yep, thats what this game is all about. Fun. Some people will debate it, and many forget this, but thats what it breaks down to. Yes, I agree, nolani was a pretty fun mission. I think pre-searing was my favorite though. It kind of got boring after awhile though due to the massive number of quests they first hit you with and the lack of missions.

Some missions in Pre searing would definately be nice.

Also, I like watching cut scenes. A lot of times I will skip them if I've seen them before, but if someone in the party doesn't skip, I don't mind waiting. I'll go upstairs and put on the kettle or something. Maybe sit and watch if it's one of my favourite. Really, is it that big of a deal if someone wants to watch the cutscene and you have to wait?

The gripe I've found with the game, is the community if impatient people. The lot of you. I haven't seen anyone so impatient, the need to run everywhere and skip every cut scene, god damn. If I see any signs of impatience from a member of the party before we enter mission, they get kicked immediately.

If you ever need any help though, ding me if I'm on and I'll see if we're not doing anything at that exact moment.

Edge Martinez - monsters can really attack in cutscenes? pfft, thats a bug that should be fixed. guess thats definately 1 reason to skip a cutscene.. esp if with players and it's not the end cutscene.. hehehe

Benny hill effect! LOL!! I have to agree.. after you said that.. thats just what it reminds me now that I think about it.. hehehe

Cunning - henchies roxx4rs! :PP DA HENCHIES R TEH 1337 KILL34Z!!!!ONEONE11!!!!

Seriously though, I use henchies because at least that way I know just what I'm getting, can go where I want and explore/quest at MY pace and not bore to tears anyone else. hehehe. Oh, and henchies prolly lag me less than players would :P

TheGreatBoo - I don't care what anyone says. really. I'm here to have fun, thats why it's called a GAME! heh. Tho StarCraft is a game and look at the big money tournements over in Korea.. hehehe

I really think they could structure the quests and such in pre-searing a lot better. I know they have done so a bit.. but they could make a step in the missions where they set you out to get more skills from quests and such b4 you leave. Would help nthe new players to even know that they were there to be gotten... I know it's better now than what it was, but still.. could be better IMO.

gotta admit my best fun is with my new characters. Trying to get to Fort Ranik with only the starter skills, trying to get all the collector armor'swith only starter skills, etc. making lil challanges for myself.. heh

Sekkira - gotta ask, been wanting to for awhile now.. But how'd you come up with that guild name? just curious as it reminds me of a certain spell that a red-deaded sorceress casts in a certain anime.. heh

Personally I don't see the problem in watching a cutscene.. if you haven't seen it b4 or recently. I can understand if it's ~30 min scene and you saw it just the other day.. LOL then I can see... but in my case, that cutscene is what.. 1 minute long? pfft.. not like you are really loosing much time... heck, the person spent more time ranting and raving at me for being "noob" and wanting to watch the cutscene than the cutscene took. Course thats when I ignored her. *shrugs*

Thanx for the offer mate, muchly appreciated

I'm not sure if you're asking for advice but I'll give a bit.

When you're working with hench it's important to know that they follow your movement. Don't charge in first, send in Thom and Stefan with a Ctrl-target or target and then ctrl-space. Move around a bit so Alesia stays with you.

When the enemy hits stefan and Thom some will try to come past for Alesia. You hit one of them without targeting it. If it's real people this isn't really great, you want to focus on one but with hench this will take a lot of heat off Alesia. Don't put her in a spot where she's in the middle of a crowd of enemies and kill the ones that slip by first then move on to the others.

Next always take Watch yourself. It's almost free and it'll really protect those around you which should include Alesia.

Later on that'll change a bit but up until the jungle you'll never die that way. If you're a warrior learn to pull with a bow and switch weapons. Ideally with hench even more than real people you want to control the area of the fight.

That's just plain false. Most warrior enemies will get stuck at your warriors and will rarely make it to Alesia. The real problem is her need to be right next to you when she heals. She'll run up to an aggro'ed group, next to Thom and Stefan, and get caught in all the melee.

if you thought Prince Rurik was bad....wait until you get to Thunderhead Keep...King Jalis makes Prince Rurik look tame....that guy has a serious death wish.

I've never really had much trouble with mending...it casts quickly. so anytime I see it get shattered I just cast it again.

just as a little tip....if you carry around a "monk" set of weapons....which is what I like to call any set of weapons that are useless for doing dmg but give you extra energy....you can quickswitch to them if you need to cast and don't have any energy left. I carry a +30 HP +21 energy protective icon and a +3 energy staff on my ranger for when I need to cast but have no energy left.

You've seen, oh, 1/5th or so of the game. Not criticizing, just saying there's quite a lot left to see.
I got flamed for this earlier, but seriously, being part monk makes PvE much easier. Doesn't really matter which class you combine it with, being part monk STILL makes the game easy. You'll appreciate your monk side more the further you get, too.

Yeah, everything and their mother targets Alesia, and she's got a deathwish. Just the way it is. She dies a lot, but since you're a part monk that isn't a mission-killer.

That's so monks wont be TOO uber. You get lots of really nifty enchantments later on, and if some monsters didn't shatter them...

Oh, don't worry, not every group does. Mending, however, isn't very useful because later in the game it simply heals too little too slow.
Yeah, Rurik is an insane rusher. If you plan for it his missions are quite easy, though, as he's high level enough to take care of himself, so you can concentrate on keeping yourself alive. A healing breeze now and then is never wrong, though.

Actually I think those missions may help casters deal with insane rusher warriors, that even casters may need to focus on keeping people alive rather than just dishing out maximum damage in minimum time sometimes.

Pre-searing is probably mainly to let complete newbies get used to the controls.

That's right, they take an equal share of everything. If you've got 3 henchies with you, you're only getting 25% of the drops. That's their pay.

The guy who scolded you was an asshat. I wouldn't worry about it, of course players who wants to see the cutscene must be allowed to do so, and anyone getting upset about that is, well, simply an asshat. If he's played the mission too many times that's HIS problem not yours.

BTW, do try to get to the Crystal Desert. It's my favorite area in the game, even more so than Pre-searing - it's so tranquil and beautiful. However, you have a couple of missions ahead of you which are difficult to solo because the henchmen are low-level compared to the monsters. It gets more balanced again after Riverside.

asdar - I wasn't after advice, but any advice is gladly accepted I was just sharing my experiences with the game so far.

I'll have to try that ctrl-target thingy, as I usually don't do that. Thats calling a target right? I alwas get confused on how to do so.. so end up just attacking 1 critter, zooming my camera out a bit and manually changing targets with mouse or tab or C key as needed depending on whats going on. but I'll definately give the calling target and sticking around Alesia a bit a try.. if it helps the fights then I'm all for it! heh

Watch yourself.. I haven't used it. I do have it.. heh, I freely admit to being a n00b when it comes to fighting in GW.. heh. I'll give it a try. that +20? armor will definately help keep Alesia alive. I don't know why I don't take it. I have room I think.. not sure.. my 1st 4 skills are all needed.. 5th skill definately has it's uses, but doesn't get used much anymore due to lack of energy.. heh 6th skill is sprint.. gets used now and again.. prolly replace sprint if anything..

7. AL

You know, after playing my warrior so far, I can see how silly I was when playing my original elementalist. Magic-user's get shredded very, very easily by my warrior. and the way I was playing my Elementalist was very, very suicidally. I never realized just how big a different that AL can make than when I got to shiverspeak and how much harder and longer it took to kill the 'warrior" type critters vs the E or M or mo type critters. They fell quickly without much use of skills while the others I had to spam my skills to kill them.


hmm, I have a bow.. I might jst try pulling with a bow. Problem with that is the moment I attack.. the henchies will start running at the monster.. which then means they aggro everything else in the area.. LOL silly henchies have a death wish :P

Kuku Monk - I was stating that 99% of the critters attacked Alesia based on MY experience so far and my impression of monster attack priorities. I've seen monsters run past or disengage from me/Stefan/Thom to attack Alesia too many times to feel that for me it's anything other than they all want to attack her :P

I do agree about her problem about needing to be close to me. She often will run around behind the monster to heal us... which usually leads to her getting whomped on by something. pfft.. Tho she does have that wonderful Benny Hill effect.. hehehehe

Algren Cole - someone worse than Prince Rurick? OMG.. dare I go any further in the game .. LOL I was too annoyed with the prince as it was. Only glad I was a warrior and running to atatck didn't hurt me too badly.. except for the fact that my energy skills were useless..

You mean if you equip +energy weapons/shields/icons/etc then you get an instant energy boost? Dang, if i'd known that I'd have at least 1 weapon set edicated to having them equipped just to get the energy quickly..

does that energy go away if you swap out to something else? or does the energy stay even if you swap to something else?

Numa Pompilius - only 1/5th of the game? Hmm, guess I better keep moving on... Been half tempted to work on my R/Mo tho.. hehe.. but I sorta am used to playing my W/Mo for now.. and I do want to see more of the game...

As for being flamed for the Monk side. pfft.. it comes does to fun. Who cares if ppl think your lame and/or boring and/or a n00b. LOL That's why I in the end started a W/Mo .. cuz I wanted to see the game and my E wasn't having much luck. hehehe.

1. Use your Monk half. Bring Healing Breeze, Orison of Healing, Heal Other, or something and cast it on her when she's dying.
2. Some Necro and Mesmer enemies can remove enchantments. However, I'd say that you can get through more than half of the missions without having your enchantments broken.
3. Oh, the learning curve. Just wait until you get to the desert. Pre-Searing is to Post-Searing what Post-Searing is to Post-Ascension. The desert is the first big step up in difficulty. Even after that there are far more difficult places. The first mobs that you face in the Underworld can do about 350 damage (a lvl20 has 480 by default) to a caster. That's a three hit kill on a Warrior.
6. Don't worry about it. The only time when you absolutely have to skip a cutscene is when you're getting attacked while the cutscene is going on (you can take damage while a cutscene is playing). You can always come back later with henchmen and watch a cutscene, if you want.

1. Orison of Healing does 20 hp healing for me. Pretty much useless. LOL Don't have Heal Other or Heeling Breeze.
2. Well for me so far where I am virtually every group of Charr or Stone Summit's I come across have at least 1 critter which can remove enchantments
3. I'll get there one day... I hope :P

and now...

8. Althea's Ashes.

They must have made this a LOT easier than it used to be. Since I just did it... with henchies. and NO DP either (well, not for me *glares at Alesia*). I was actually surprised I managed to do this with just henchies. I really expected to have to try and get ppl to do this quest..

But found with the right tactics I could do it with just henchies. The hardest section had to be the last bit where the ashes were. I admit all the henchies died a few times (mostly due to their stupidity.. LOL). Basically all I did was go slowly and take on just 1 group at a time. I used a bow and ran away a bit to draw enemies away from the other groups so as to only get 1 group at a time.. and I had Wath Yourself! as a skill... damn that skill saved both my butt & the henchies more than I'd like to think about. But by taking it slowly and 1 group at a time.. I managed to get to the last section... which was a real pain. What I did was draw what I could, run away a bit and then run in.. kill a few and run away to heal up, res a henchies if needed (usually Alesia.. LOL) then back to draw a few more away and kill them.. rinse and repeat.

As I said, I was surprised since I'd heard how damned hard this used to be. Now it's like a walk in the park... well a walk in the park if you don't just blindly charge into the temple section and try and fight all the charr at once :P

This bring's me to...

9. Alesia again

I really think they need to work on her AI. WHY she always wants to run ahead of me.. it was frustrating as she did trigger 2 hydra's (and died as a result) because she ran right ahead of me beyond my aggro radus.. she stopped there.. so wasn't attacking the hydra.. but she was in their aggro radius and thus died. She kept on running ahead of me.. She seems to have this ai set of "run ahead of player, aggro everything and then die" LOL...

but dang me.. I whoooped that ashes quest with Henchies! hahhaa. I will admit that I most likely couldn't have done this had I not gotten to Shiverpeaks 1st and thus learned the trick of pulling and sneaking. Because thats what got me through that quest. I've even learned a bit on pulling with henchies.. would be easier to pull with Orion rather than Stefan I think.. but still.. heh.. go me!

My .02 cents on cutscenes.

Most people (myself included) have FINISHED the game multiple times. I've also helped guildmates finish missions. I've probably run frostgate about two or three dozen times.

And I don't want to watch the cutscenes AGAIN.

But, I don't get upset if someone wants to watch it.

HOWEVER

If 5 of 6 people have voted to skip the cutscene, quit being a selfish asshat, and skip as well. You're forcing your wishes on the vast majority of the players. If you REALLY want to watch a cutscene, then go and run it with henches, and watch it at your leisure.

Otherwise, majority rules. At least I wish it did, as far as cutscenes are concerned. Having one person out of a party selfishly holding up everyone else is just LAME.

There are two sides to every argument.

And if all you do is play with henches, you're just missing out on what makes GW's special - social interaction. Playing by yourself is a personal decision, but you're missing out on a lot - and if you're having problems getting even past the shiverpeaks, then you're just going to quit playing this game later when it gets REALLY hard for someone that "isn't very good".

Well good for you. I play at my own pace and I do have RL commitments that I have to keep which prevents me from spending my life in GW finishing the game and doing it multiple times.

Thank you for understanding that people have lives and that the game isn't everything to them /sarcasm

And thank you for being an elitist prig and rubbing in the fact that I haven't finished the game yet. Really makes me feel good when I have elitist prig's like you comming along and downing me because I haven't finished the game multiple times like you. Yes, really do appreciate that /sarcasm again

Let me just write down the name of your guild as I will make sure never to play with you or your guild ever. I like the cutscenes. I paid my money to see them. So I will make sure if/when I play with players, they are of like mine and won't be elitist prigs like you.

So you say, yet below you state that your a selfish git if you dare to want to watch a cutscene that you haven't seen b4. pffft, sure you won't mind. My bet is you'd attack anyone who dared not skip a cutscene you didn't want to watch, even if it was 7 vs 1 in favor of watching.

And those who are skipping cutscenes are forcing their wish's on others if they try and force people to skip cutscenes. This is why I play with henchie, purely to avoid running into ppl like you. Since a lot of people seem to be in a hurry to play, I doubt that many PUG's would want to stop and let a new player see a cutscene anyways.

And anyways, what if it was 4/4 or 5/3 with your guild helping 3-4 new players and they wanted to see the cutscene? What if the mission where the cutscene was in was one that was very, very hard or neigh impossible with henchies (like you seem to imply below).. then those people will be missing out on game content they PAID for.

We all paid for the game and have every right to want to see a cutscene if we so choose. don't like that? Then make sure to ask b4 heading on sa mission so as to not be forced to sit and wait for a player to watch a cutscene. I'll always tell ppl if i'm going to want to see a cutscene or not, and if they don't.. then they don't have to party with me. Simple as that. But no bloody way am I going to skip any cutscene I PAID to see just because some impatient elitist gits like you don't want to see them

and one point your missing - the 2nd cutscene in the game when you go to post-searing. If you get in the pvp part your going to be forced into a group. That means your going to be forced to watch that cutscene if someone wants to watch it. Thats not something you can go back to witrh henchies to see. That is my issue with that because I wanted to see the cutscene, the other player didn't. So I got abused for not skipping. Not like I could do it with henchies. And thats not a good start for "new" players if they get abused by ppl because they want to see game content they PAID to see.

And having a few ppl try and deprive someone of game content they paid to see is just as selfish IMO. If you don't like the cutscenes, then just don't play with anyone new because they might just be someone like me who likes to see everything that they can about the game.

Indeed there are. I just don't agree with yoiur side. Thats why I play solo, because there are too many ppl IMO who just want to rush through the game. No offense against you, you play your way and I'll play mine.

If I want social interaction I'll play with players. Or I come to these boards. Or I'll go mplay another online game I am a member of where the ppl are nice, friendly and not into rushing through the game.

what am I missiong out on? I read a lot of threads here talking about how many idiotic, stupid, moronic players there are who rush into fights, aggro everything in the map, swear at other players, draw garbage on the maps, etc and so on. Why would I want to put up with that garbage? And froma lot of the garbage I see being spewed forth in the general chat, I'd rather not play with most players anyways.

I'd rather solo and play with henchies and pass on help whenever I'm in a town/outpost and someone is asking for help. My choice. I have my fun and don't have to deal with idiots in a group or people wanting to skip cutscene that I want to watch or any other numerable issues and problems that other people bring into/to groups/players.

I never said I was having problems with Shiverpeaks. Well I did at the start, but I've learnt how to play there and it's no longer an issue for me. I'm sure the game will get harder and harder as I go along, but I'll adapt and have my fun in MY way.

Now mind you, I do see your side of the argument for skipping cutscenes. I'm just stating my side and viewpoint from where I stand. I understand why you think that way and I'm not going to try and force myself or my belief's on you. Thats why I won't play with you or your guild, that way conflict will never happen. I understand and respect other ppl's choices and decisions. Just don't try and force your opinion/thought/belief on me and I won't do the same back to you.

and btw.. Most PUG's want to skip cutscene's. I've yet come across any that does.. I've asked a few and ended up doing the missions with henchies because no-one wanted to do them and watch the cutscenes. pfft. I'll just play with henchies and get it done the 1st time. Why go back a 2nd time to see cutscenes if I don't have to? *shrugs* might change my opinion when I get further into the game, but who knows.

Edit -

I just want to add that this post was not intended to start a flame war or anything. It probably will get deleted for "insulting" someone. *shrugs* I'm sorry if it does.

I made this post purely because of the attitude I read into the post this is responding to. The poster came across like an arrogant, egotistical person who believes that because he's FINISHED the game multiple times that means he's better than me and his view and belief and thinking is so much more important and better than mine. I admit I'm not the best at the game, nor have I ever finished.

However from reading his post I felt insulted and felt like he was putting me down and rubbing it in that he'd finished the game multiple times and was thus so much better than me and what he had to saw was thus more important than what I had to say. Thats what I got from his post, and thus you have my response.

I don't know if that is what he intended with his post, but it's what I got out of it. That is why I called him an elitist prig, because from reading his post that's just what he came across like to me.. an elitist prig putting down and insulting the idiot newbie. *shrugs*

Just thought I'd add this to my post so people can see where I am comming from.

I don`t see why some people have problem watching cutscenes. I have always watched them If i wanted, no matter if 5/6 people have decided to skip.

Many times someone said "fuk u who who didnt skip" or something like that, but I don`t care. If someone immature kid tries to bitch so what. I bought this game and I watch every cutscene if I want to, no matter what. Why? Because I love them and I don`t consider myself being selfish, because the cutscenes really are not that long.

Well, touched a nerve, I guess.

Ohhh.....not going to play with my guild because we'd prefer to move along and skip cutscenes we've seen dozens of times?

From the bottom of my heart, and all of my other guildmates as well, thank you. Don't worry about me, I think I'll be able to handle the hardship of missing out of your fine company, somehow. Not that I'm too worried about playing with you, at the rate you're going, you'll catch up to the rest of the GW community in about the year 2012.

Our loss.

My ONLY complaint about cutscenes is when you're being attacked, can see it happening in the cutscene, and there's one person either oblivious or hoping the attacker will get bored and go away.

If you're under attack in a cutscene, please skip it while you still breathe.

If you don't want to watch cutscenes, then please restrict your gaming to intra-guild members or don't complain when someone rightfully has the desire to catch part of the plot through viewing a cutscene.


See, this is the kind of elitest crap that makes a bad reputation for the community of the rest of us dedicated GW'ers. I have beaten the game eight times under two different accounts, played massive amounts of PVP and PVE in GvG's, arena's, tombs, HoH, but I don't consider myself to be superior in any way to Mr. Kata here, other than the fact that it's summer and I've more time to spend than he does. Get it into your head: just because you've completed the game more times doesn't mean you're better, it just means you chose to spend more time on the game than he did. If I PUG (not often, but I do), and someone wants to watch a cutscene, GREAT! I tab out, take a break, tab back in, make a sassy comment about the cutscene, and keep going. You've already dumped plenty of time in your life into the mission, does it really matter if some newcomer wants to watch it for the first time so he can immerse himself in the plot? Do you really have to be a wanker and tell him off for "wasting your time"? Is it really worth it to criticize someone for PLAYING THE GAME FOR THE FIRST TIME? I sincerely hope, with all my heart, that your Guild considers itself so elite as to leave the PUG'ging scene and leave us your elitest attitudes so we can play the game the way it's meant to be played without being fed inconsiderate remarks.

kamatsu,

For the cutscene part, i've never got flamed for that long with not skipping cutscenes.. only maybe like 1 or 2 sentences of skip cutscenes dammit. but i dont understand why they don't want others to see it. they kinda forgot the time when they were new to this game and wanted to see the cutscenes... if you've played the missions b4, just take a break while the cutscenes play. not a big deal. get a drink or some snack and come back.

i think, kamatsu, it maybe good to ask about the cutscene thing before saying ready... not that i think it is "necessary", but to avoid some flaming.

[QUOTE=Mithie]even more blah blah blah...QUOTE]

It's nice that folks come and defend someone's ehonor, but apparently, some folks suffer from reading comprehension problems.

To reiterate (is that too big of a word for you?), I don't mind if some noob wants to watch a cutscene and I don't flame them if they do - but if 7 of 8 vote to skip, THEN BE CONSIDERATE AND SKIP AS WELL, INSTEAD OF BEING A SELFISH ASSHAT!

I hope the caps help.

And yes, my other comments about how long it's taking him to finish were simply to dig under his/her/it's skin for the ignorant flaming I got. Pot/Kettle kind of thing. Quite nice you you to ride up on your white stallion to defend her ehonor, sir knight. Your ewenis must be ehuge by now, you do this often?

I play things like this, "Oh look cut scene. I want to watch, I sit there and watch. Oh, 5 of 6 don't want to watch, tough!" They complain, I ignore, simple simple.

Kamatsu made some really good points and I agree with what each point covered. If I press skip a cutscene and someone else doesn't, oh well, I'll watch it, but I would never bitch someone out for it. In fact I've encouraged people to not skip if they want to watch, if they all skip, I'm assuming they didn't want to watch it...

MSecorsky - I'll admit, if I was watching a cutscene and the group started getting attacked I would skip it just to stop us from dying, especialy if it was a in-the-middle cutsceneplay the mission for the cutscene.. better to do that than die and have ppl moan and complain about dying and loosing the mission :P

Mithie - thanx for your post. I appreciate your input into the whole matter.

Arvydas - I think I must have run into one of MM's pals/alt's when I ran that char through to post-searing. Seriously, that player has an attitude very simily to MM's attitude he's showing here. I can deal with that kinda nonsense, but doesn't make my game enjoyable. I do feel sorry for any truly new player who has that happen to them. If i got abused like I ws right near the start of the game, I'd be terribly put off and consider not playing maybe. Or playing with pure henchies always and never talking to anyone.

I guess what it comes down to is that many people, including myself, have an "me" complex. This is why they want to skip the cutscenes. Because they have seen it before and just want to get on with the game and move on. They don't stop to consider the other players, they just want to skip because they have seen them before and don't wish to see them. Me? I want to see them, thus for me I either play with henchies or will make sure I'm in a party that doesn't mind seeing the cutscenes. I'll not be pressing "skip" even if the rest of the party has. Only reason I'd press skip is if the party was being attacked.

And I agree about asking the group beforehand about the cutscenes. If they don't want to watch them then I won't play with them. Simple as that. Saves some anger in the end.

And that brings me to...

10. Dance parties :P

I admit I've always scoffed at these and thought that they were pretty stupid and rediculious. I was in Fort Ranik yesterday and was chatting to some ppl there. Talking about the game and whats comming up and what ppl wanted.

Don't know how it started, but were ended up standing around trying to do co-ordinated dancing. First it was 3 necro's sand then 4 or 5 rangers.. it was a ball. It took ages to get ppl to use the /dance * emote.. and to get the timing right... but it was funny.. and was cool when the different gender/classes could get it done right.

I guess I'll never laugh or scoff at a dance party again.. because boy was that fun... and what a waste of like 1-2 hours of my time.. LOL We had ppl doing their dances, ppl drumming, etc. We had sicko male warrior's starting their dance behind female chaarcters... ewww! LOL and the Benny Hill effect as the girls moved away... hehehe

MM - I actually have a serious question for you. Now i know some people might say to take it private, but since this issue is all in the open, I think I'll just ask publically.

Now you've stated you don't mind watching cutscenes if the "new players" want to watch them but will want to skip if the majority want to. My question is - what about the 2nd cutscene in the game?

Thats the one cutscene where you are unuvoidably put into a group which you have no control over. The person(s) your put in might or might not want to watch or skip the cutscene. Will you be upset/angry/whatever if you started a new character and wanted to skip that cutscene but the other person(s) wanted to watch it?

Considering that from beyond that point on you can choose who you want to group with, but that group in that section/mission is forced upon you with no choice. Just curious really.

[QUOTE=Mimi Miyagi]How do you know that 1 person who wants to watch isn't a noob? This is my first time playing the game.. but, how do you know that? Do you realise that my level 18 monk (yes, I'm proud of my achievement) is my first character? or are you going to randomly consider me to be inconsiderate for wanting to watch it?

Oh.. and what's this about watching the cutscenes and being attacked? Are they insane? How would a new person (me) be able to watch them if the team is attacked... unless.. I want to re-do it just to attempt to watch it without being attacked (yes, noobi-ishm showing through at lack of understanding that one)

If the majority of players want to skip the cutscene, I'll skip it. If one player is holding out, I figure s/he hasn't seen it, so I don't mind. Nothing I can do about it anyway.

you sound like a fun person to play with at least one who learns from his mistakes like most of us
about the cut scene yep what everyone else said under attack skip
if you see me around maybe we could team up and go exploring

I honestly can't understand how I can state something at least three times in a thread, yet people just don't friggin "get it".

If the majority of hte people want to skip, then the last holdout should skip, it's just being considerate. If they don't, they're being lame. I don't, however, go around cussing people out, and act like a prick. I don't CARE. But it's just simple common friggin courtesy to move along, when everyone else wants to move along.

I don't care what mission or circumstance it is.

You'll have a whole 10 or so months before the next expansion comes out - in time, you'll get tired of listening to the horrible acting after watching the same cut scenes a dozen times just like everyone else. Just wait until you get to Elona Reach and have to redo that mission 20-30 times to finally get a good group that knows how to do that mission successfully. You'll be begging for someone to skip by the fifth or sixth time. It was even more unbearable during that mission because anet forgot to start the misison timer AFTER the cutscene - nothing like having a mission with a time limit cut by two minutes even before you start. Thankfully they fixed it.

And people that don't skip if the party is being attacked during a cutscene need to get a clue. I've had half a party get whacked because one person didn't skip a cutscene during an infusion run. You'd think that once a person gets ascended they'd have an idea about how to play this game by then.

But no damage is dealt, this was fixed in a recent update...

I don't care if my entire party deigns to skip. If I have not seen the cutscene, I will watch it, and they can deal with it.

Prick indeed.

This is EXACTLY why I almost never automatically skip the cutscenes if I'm playing a mission unless everyone else skips before me. That way if someone actually wants to see the scene, they won't feel like they're the only one. 4/6 looks alot better than 5/6, and just might keep someone's mouth shut to avoid an argument =). If everyone else decides to skip though, of course I'll skip ahead (unless I've never seen the scene before).

asdar - Again I must thank you for your advice about taking Watch Yourself! This skill is great and has saved me and the henchies more times than I can count. It's especially usefull for keeping alesia alive since she will inevitable run into range of everything and start loosing health fast as everything targets her.

Well I'm happy, I just made it to Beacon's Pearch and was pleased to have done it with henchies and only had to restart 1 mission once due to a silly bug (I got stuck IN the "ramp" where 1 of the engineer's stands.. pfft!). I must say it was a whole load of fun running around killing everything that I could.. I defiately utilized my newfound pulling and targeting skills.. heh

- Money

But dang, got to Beacon's Pearch and had ppl advertising "runs" to Droknoir's Forge and such from 2 to 5K gold. Makes me feel really, really poor since I only have like 6-7K gold max on my whole account. LOL I am poooorrr... heh

Guess I should go back and finish mapping some of the stuff I did.. and do it solo if I can. Well, that is if I really am bothered about getting more gold. Wonder if I'm poorer or richer than most "new" players would be by this point in the game.. heh

Doesn't bother me tho as I know I can make a few K gold easy enough... but still...

- scammers.

Heh, I'm sure one of the people advertising the run was a scammer. Asking for 5K gold.. 3K payable now and 2K payable at ... bah can't remember the name of the place now (not Snakes whatever, was yak or rak.. or something like that). pfft! yeah right, even if I did wan't to be run.. as if I'm going to pay 3K b4 even having gotten anywhere...

- Joe the Devourer.

Is it just me or is he a whimp? LOL I couldn't ever keep him alive... maybe I was just trying to fight too many things at once... but that was usually due to henchies activating too many critters.. LOL

Gotta say I'm glad you don't have to have him along to finish the quest.... without having him around it was fairly easy. Well apart from having to stand there doing nothing due to Pacifism cast on me, Stefan & Thom.. LOL

Those missions were long, and I'm glad I didn't try for the bonuses at the same time. Gotta say I was biting my nails at some points when I hit lag spikes.. and appeared to be near the end of the mission.. heh, last thing I wanted to do was time/lag out right before finishing them! hehe

But they were definately fun. Even if Alesia gave me a headache at some points with her stupid AI. LOL But then again, it definately made things more challanging trying to fight either trying to keep Alesia alive or trying to survive a hard fight without anyone to heal me. But trying to work out how to deal with each group and what angle/approach to take to get to them.. really was good to have to stop and think and consider just what I wanted to do and how to do it.. without having some stupid NPC to chase after to try and keep alive :P

I'm getting thre, slowly but surely. And I gotta say... someone definately got what they deserved! hehe.. :P

How many times *do WE* have to state the fact that what you've been stating three times is WRONG... ALL THREE TIMES?

BULL. If the last holdout didn't skip, I will assume he is new and has not seen the cutscene yet. Therefore, I SHOULD BE considerate of HIM, not the other way around. This way, it only costs me about half a minute to watch. Otherwise, it'll cost HIM another twenty minutes of doing the mission again with a hench party if he wants to see it again. This is called being considerate of others, and it's also called using your common sense. Get that into your head yet?

It's bloody hilarious how you love the word "considerate" and yet fail to grasp the simple concept that SOME people don't play this game to grind, or farm, or PVP, but just to immerse themselves in the storyline by watching the cutscenes. How much of an inconsiderate wanker do you have to be to scorn him for that? And you know what, I bet the other six people who skipped the 'scene don't give a bloody damn about it either. Let him watch, so what? Are you really that bogged down over wasting 30 seconds of your life so some one can get his money's worth of the game?

"I don't care this, I don't care that", well how the hell are you suppose to bring out "considerate this, considerate that" and expect others to care about you if you don't give a bloody wank about them?

THERE ARE PLAYERS WHO JUST GOT THE GAME WHO HAVEN'T SEEN THE CUTSCENE YET. Drill this into your head, then we'll talk.

Yeah, if you're an inconsiderate and impatient kid with ADD who lost his ritalin dosage. I don't mind, the majority of people that I've played with don't mind, and if it took you 20-30 times to finish ANY mission, you've got no right to pull rank, because that's just stupid.


That's a clearly different issue. If the party gets attacked, and the person doesn't skip, then he deserves to be flamed for not using common sense. However, if you criticise the 1 guy out of your 8 memeber party for not skipping because it's his first time playing, I got news for you kid, grow up.

I see reading comprehension is not one of your strong suits either.

Otherwise, I think someone needs to take some Midol.

BTW - I'm not your "kid", I'm probably at least twice your age.

I'm glad my advice helped and congratulations on getting to Beacon's.

As a War/mo you'll be able to run through Lornar's if you want some day. There's plenty of advice threads on how but it's pretty tough until you get balanced stance. It's really fun to load up Sprint and give it a go though. It gives you an idea of what you'll face at higher levels.

Watch the cut scene if you want, if someone gets upset they'll learn to cope. It's a very big part of the game to some people and if it's your first time then you deserve to see it the same way hard core players do.

When I'm playing I'll hold back on my skip vote 'til the last player goes so that new players don't feel the pressure of being the only one watching. if 3 out of 5 want to skip I'll watch, if 4 out of 5 then I'll skip even though in truth I'd just as soon skip it.

Your argument: If 7 people in the party wants to skip, then if the remaining player does not, regardless of whether he has seen it or not, then he is inconsiderate.

I say you're wrong. If THAT wasn't your argument, then you need to learn basic textual communication.

Judging from the way you tout your language, I highly doubt you're over 62. If you are, you're the most immature 62 year old I've ever had the pleasure of meeting online.

What`s the big deal about this? I don`t get it. If 7/8 players want to skip and 1 doesn`t, so what? It really doesn`t take that long to watch the scene. If it bothers someone... well that`s too bad.

Because really, all the people haven`t perhaps seen the cutscenes yet and they have right to enjoy the game and watch it. Plain and simple. It is rude to flame someone who just wants to enjoy the game and the plot by watching cutscenes.

I have a suggestion: Anet should remove that text "so and so many players want to skip the cutscene" It is of no use anyway so why keep it?

Well in this particular forum on both pages you have responded like quite an asshat yourself. I wouldn't expect that from someone with some maturity ... if 7/8 want to skip the cutscene ... and one isnt ... maybe ... just maybe he ran to get a drink ... or perhaps you could use a breather and calm your nerves ...

if it is indeed a newbie first run ... it really shouldn't be a big deal ... what are they like a whole minute? not really worth the contravesy. Many of us are mature and old ... and have finished the game 6 times over with numerous toons, but can bear the minute to let someone watch the movie.
Doesn't it just eat you up when people don't clear out there earwax? (rhetorical pun intended)

Asdar - I'm not sure if I'll be doing any "running" anyware. I'll just have to see how things pan out. for now I think I'm going to backtrack and map some and try and get some money. I feel deadbroke with only 7K gold :P

As for the storyline/cutscenes I'll admit it's a big part for me. I like storyline and seeing how thigs progress. For me GW is just another rpg which has the added bonus of being played online with other players. Even though I haven't done any missions or such with anyone else, I love the fact that I can if i want to.. or I can just chat and dance away in towns/outposts with others if I don't feel like doing a quest, mission or exploration.

A.Net gave the option to the players. Each person watching the cutscene can choose to either a) press the button or b) NOT press the button.

In no way should abuse be hurled at a) those who wish to skip the cutscene (and who may ask for everyone to [hopefully politely] or b) those who choose to watch (or are using the time to have a wee or run to make a quick sandwich).


FWIW: I'm usually not bothered about watching them, so I tend to skip. Sometimes I'm really not in the mood and want to 'get going' and thus ask everyone to skip. But if someone really wants to watch it that badly then fine. There are just too many self-centered, arrogant, loud-mouthed fools playing this game who believe their choice not to watch is the RIGHT one. And vent accordingly after having been made to wait.

[ Note: They are probably the same one's who refuse to bring a rez sig to arena...due to their 'ultra-build' using all 8 slots. ]

I hate getting in groups with actuall people, myself. I'de really rather just go with henchmen. And that I do with my E/me, but it's almost impossible (for me) with a W/mo or W/r... Donnu why