If GW1's balance and PvP was so great, why was it never a serious competitor to the other so called 'unbalanced' games?
Apples and Oranges. To begin with B2P (like a singleplayer game is B2P) doesnt really compete with P2P MMO's.
Then in GW1 there is no gear advantage possible like in most P2P MMO's. If you ever started to win based on skill, then you just dont give a shit anymore about pvp gear treadmills. Because the feeling of winning in skillbased PVP > winning in gearbased PVP.
Ive seen the best teambased PVP (edit: from MMO's) in Guild Wars in Guild vs Guild matches. Most other P2P games just offer zergtactics and individuals who only want to see their score based on dps. Which is just silly because the irony is that dps in those games is mainly based on gear+skillrotation. With all the addons they use it makes it as boring as accounting.
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If GW1's balance and PvP was so great, why was it never a serious competitor to the other so called 'unbalanced' games?
Huh. Selling 6 and a half million PC games doesn't count as a 'serious competitor'? You have rigorous standards.
They did hold tournaments with fairly large cash prizes though, and for those who are heavily into PvP, GW1 is pretty well known.
Also, GW1? Not an MMORPG.
Shocking, I know.
Seriously though, most of those unbalanced games you're talking about would have been happy to sell that many boxes. :P
Apples and Oranges. To begin with B2P (like a singleplayer game is B2P) doesnt really compete with P2P MMO's.
Then in GW1 there is no gear advantage possible like in most P2P MMO's. If you ever started to win based on skill, then you just dont give a shit anymore about pvp gear treadmills. Because the feeling of winning in skillbased PVP > winning in gearbased PVP.
Ive seen the best teambased PVP (edit: from MMO's) in Guild Wars in Guild vs Guild matches. Most other P2P games just offer zergtactics and individuals who only want to see their score based on dps. Which is just silly because the irony is that dps in those games is mainly based on gear+skillrotation. With all the addons they use it makes it as boring as accounting.
Because GW1 was not an MMO. MOBA and FPS games have balance and great PVP - would you you consider them as 'serious competitors' to PVP in MMOs?
What other games was it competing with?
PvP is not enough to attract a huge following in MMOs, WoW is not popular because of its PvP scene.