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Guild Wars 2: Video Interview with Jon Peters
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy chats with ArenaNet's Jon Peters about Traits, Professions, and a few other details in the upcoming Guild Wars 2. We recorded it live on Twitch.tv for MMORPG.com.
Comments
Not a bad interview. They could have done a much beter job of promoting the CE at the end. Nice statue though, but I never buy CE anyway. I buy games for the games.
It seems even ANet have a little trouble explaining their systems to us. Which I think is understandable considering all the questions were derived from peoples experiences with other MMO's.. which is sorta off the mark and they have to explain it to us based on those expectations for us to understand it. Definately sounds like the best way to know what the systems are like in GW2 is to try them for yourself. GW1 players will get it more though.
The "try it for yourself" is how I feel. It's really hard to explain it all, because it's not really like anything before it.
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A bit too general questions and answers, but I was glad to hear that profession-specific tasks that were once used to acquire skill points have now been refurbished and will be open to everyone for exploration's sake. Also, Rytlock's appearance making the connection go haywire was hilarious.
Refreshing to see a nice, honest interview even though the Q&A was generalized. No corporate PR fluff or exaggerations. Seems very genuine.
Great interview. Next time Bill, ask him when the release is set. And if he says "when its finished", take his Rytlock.
Thanks for submitting all your questions, guys! You gave us some great stuff!
...and give it to me!
Awsome interview - Jon & co. seem to know what an mmo pvp system needs nowadays!!!! and the interview seem very genuine.
the CE looks amazing!!! cant wait to get into the BETA!!!
I got a feeling that Jon doesnt like the underwater combat that much...
Everything else he said was like a child that just got a new toy to play...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I got the impression he just thought the idea of staying underwater for the whole game was a bit silly and actually wanted to laugh at the question. As in, people shouldn't limit themselves to just that because they will be missing a lot.
That's the impression I got as well Vannor.
Great interview i hope that will calm down some poeple about the trait system (that i personally find great
). And ye the statue really look nice, my kid would probably take it for one of his own and squash it pretty fast, so.
Boo, didn't even ask my questions. I guess they where kind of controversial, but still, would have been interesting to see what he had to say, as I'm really not sold on the current trait system.
Your question is probably something that can easily be answered, or has already been answered.
Underwater combat is the one, single thing about this game I hope to avoid. I have hated it in pretty much every MMORPG I have played, so I hope nothing is required regarding the underwater stuff. So looking forward to this game, but not that aspect.
Actually it's not, and I am yet to see anything even resembling a proper answer to it.
In essence the question is: "Why is current system, which ties minor and major traits and stats together into trees better than a free and open system that lets you choose your minor and major traits and stats independantly of each other?". Most people just brush it off and say "the current system is fine", so I wanted to hear what one of guys who designed the current system had to say.
My criticisms extend beyond that as well, including "What is the advantage of a 28/28/14 build compared to say a 30/25/15 build, which gives you 2 additional traits and with slightly different gear will have equivalent stats?". Again, I'm yet to get a proper answer. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
The statue does have amazing detail, but 150 bucks is awfully steep for plastic. If it was made out of ceramic or pewter, then I'd be more inclined to fork out the bucks.
can we get a transcription ? =P
I could tell exactly what he meant. Yeah it's definitely complicated though. I don't think people are used to spec'ing with diminishing returns built in through the need to diversify or expand on utility specifically via the weapon sets themselves. It's more like Shooters these days where you have a specific weapon loadout that gives you an edge at a specific niche but none of them are really designed to be upgrades to eachother... just sidegrades. You can dump achievement points into them but it's not going to make your overall performance better than the guys with the Stock loadouts in most fights unless those guys are trying to use brute force on terrain that plays more to your niche advantage.
The minmaxing you're doing is not the completely linear-stats that most RPG'ers are used to.
I believe he answered both of your questions in the interview by saying there is no advantage or disadvantage to particular builds it's just a choice of playstyle. Do you want the boost from 3 extra points to power or a boost to vitality decrease in power and 2 traits? And I believe the traits arent open or free is you say to entice you to choose different builds for different traits.
See I don't buy the whole playstyle thing, I mean if it's really about YOUR playstyle why have a system where for each build (or playstyle if you like) that is possible there are at least 6 (based on minor traits alone) that aren't? It's still the best answer I have gotten so far though, and I do admit that limitations (i.e. no 'perfect' choice) can make for some interesting decisions... but this is a video game, so if I can't play (i.e. build my character) at least close to the way I want I'll just never be happy with it, and this system has some, IMO, pretty serious limitations built in. i.e. I doubt I'll ever be happy with it.
I'm still really not convinced about the advantages of a 28/28/14 build... he even says in the video that stat differences aren't going to make a huge difference, and while you might not want the extra traits as key parts of your build they are still going to be way more useful than the tiny dps increase you will get from 30 extra points in power (assuming you don't offset it by swaping a +vitality item for a +power item).
I'm not going to even bother answering your first question, because it is something so subjective that only you'll be able to answer it yourself once you play the game, instead of wanting some reassurance from the devs. As for the 2nd... Well you're right in that there will be no advantage in a 28/28/14 build over a 30/25/15 build. Even the devs said that you build your trait lines in accordance to the minor and major traits you feel is most important for your build and not the stats, as the stats can be easily offset by your gear choice.
Well are you going to pre-purchase the game to try out the Beta, because that would be a great opportunity to try out some builds?
@Acidblood
I can sympathize/relate with you a bit regarding the current skill/trait systems. I don't really see why they'd make the trait system as opposed to having the open skill system from GW1. This coming from a hardcore GW1 fan, even.
At first I thought it'd be just like a talent system, but i'll admit the current trait system *is* much better/flexible. However, it's still not really an improvement over the system they had before.
IMO, give me skills/abilities and attributes that control their functionality, no tiers/trait system to put up with. (i.e. free form skill system)
But since i'm thinking about it: I've noticed alot of gamer friends/gamers in general don't really appreciate true customization or having to think to put a 'build' together, and would rather have multiple choices from predetermined templates, sadly. Maybe they're marketing? Lol.
@Master10k
You're probably right, I doubt there is much anyone (even the devs) could say to change my mind, I still really want to know WHY they chose this system though, especially when any number of free form systems have so many advantages over it.
Not sure if I'll pre-purchase yet, I like pretty much everything else about GW2 and really want to check out the WvW, but the trait system is pretty major flaw for me... I think at this point I'll hold off and see what other beta testers have to say over the next few weeks / months.
@hyper001
It's better than talents (WoW style at least) for sure, but yeah, as far as customisation goes it's a massive step back from what they had. Unfortunately I think you are right in that most people don't really care that much about customisation, they just want something fancy to click on that gives them prizes. If I had to pick an advantage over the old system it's that the current system is more accessible... not that I really see that as an advantage as there is no reason you can't make a free form system accessible.
Anyway, thanks for the answers guys... I feel a little bit better at least. Time for sleep.
Ah, Jon. Warrior through and through.