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Why Guild Wars 2 might fail
ictown
Member Posts: 123
I'm confident that GW2 will be an excellent game and find a dedicated audience that will really enjoy it. I am not confident that GW2 will be a hit with more mainstream MMO players though, for the following reasons and these are the same reasons that is wrong with mmos today.
1. Players don’t want to look cool, they want to be cool.
Every time a player makes a choice based on a 1% dodge bonus, or wears stupid looking armor with great stats over visual aesthetics they are opting for substance over style. GW2 getting rid of these substantive differences between the races and high-level gear means that while a player may look cooler than another, they aren’t actually better than anyone else, and players will quickly realize it is a shallow system.
2. Players want to be the best without actually being the best.
Players want an advantage over everyone else, especially if they can achieve that with mediocre ability spread out over countless hours of monotony that the next guy can’t or won’t invest; a weapon that provides both a stat advantage and exclusive access to a dungeon to get an increased advantage allows mediocre players to get better simply through willpower and time invested versus actual skill or growth. GW2 goes the opposite direction of this, so far as to de-level players going backward in content, almost negating in total what advances they attained through gear and stats alone to keep things interesting. When stats fail to make players better, most players will have nowhere to turn.
3. When players can’t be the best they want somebody (preferably) or something else (works too) to blame instead of themselves.
Eventually things don’t work out as many players wish, and when that happens it’s easier to blame the healers or the tank, or the opposing faction, or the guildie who picked the dumbest class and is wasting a raid slot, etc. instead of doing a self-examination and figuring out how they can improve and then acting to do so. Considering that GW2 is more reliant on player-skill than any other MMO, and that professions are essentially jacks of all trades, finger-pointing will be awkward at best and accusations against balance issues or ad hominem attacks against ArenaNet just won’t work long-term for bad players.
4. Players don’t want to have to think, they just want to act.
Many MMOs cater to skill rotations, cool-down management, and provide high-reward abilities with no risks associated with their use. A perceived “I Win” button like Moa Morph that can actually miss is a foreign concept to many players, and one that will probably ruin their sense of fun in the face of more skillful opponents or challenging NPCs.
While some players are sighing in relief about the “low” number of skills in GW2, this is an illusion or an oversimplification, as many of the traits really do add an unparalleled level of depth to profession customization. That there is no one “right” answer for a profession, coupled with the fact that the “right traits and skills” would still require skillful and thoughtful use by the player, will only frustrate players more accustomed to traditional MMORPG gameplay conventions.
5. Players need validation.
In most MMOs it’s a simple matter to find one or two character builds that are optimal for the way the game is designed. In higher-level content, if a build can fulfill a role in a raid, and the raid succeeds, the build is successful, and the feedback is readily apparent. GW2’s reliance on player-skill and player-choice throws this system of evaluation out the window, and every request to evaluate a given build veils thinly the requestor’s doubts about having enough personal skill to succeed in spite of mistakes, oversights, and/or shortcomings at the trait and skill picking level. With player-skill being such an integral variable that many players won't honestly want to evaluate, validation will be difficult to come by.
If people are willing to accept new changes in GW2, I think its going to be a smashing hit. At some point, there has to mmo that tries to differentiate standard EQ/WOW based system and you know what, Guild Wars decided to do that.
EDIT: Changed Font and repost from Andre @SA forum
Comments
please change the font... i am literally blinded
So...GW2 could fail because most gamers suck at games? What?
I used to TL;DR, but then I took a bullet point to the footnote.
Not a flame, but he's right. That is serious eyestrain.
EDIT: New font didn't help. Just please use default.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
Everything you listed is a massive problem in other mmos as I see them. Im glad GW2 doesnt have these issues and finally I get to play an mmo where my skill matters, and not what shoulder pads Im wearing.
It's a troll looking for attention, note the font screaming " please look at me." and the "1st" post.
Furthermore the entire rant is entirely subjective and most likely a projection of his unique personal experience.
Should've just given posted a link to the original article, imo.
Wait... someone plagiarizing anothers forum post.. wow just wow. At least give a source indicating it's a reddit post.*
*Wherever you source it from.
It's kind of sad, I think.
Either way, the original post on reddit has a lot of interesting comments.
And the plot thickens...
Edit: The right thing to do in this case would be to credit the author.
Ok, those points are kind of pessimistic towards MMO players. I think they may apply to the ancillary MMO players that play because their friend or SO does, but otherwise wouldn't play themselves. However, the core MMO player has been looking for something different from WoW for a while now, and I think the first game to hit fun AND get away from WoW will hit big. (Though I don't think we'll ever see an MMO dominate like WoW did, the market is just too diluted at this point.)
Now that being said, I don't think GW2 is as distant from WoW as stated. I believe it is a move away, but it isn't a whole new beast. It will have enought differences to attract those that no longer want the WoW game, but close enough to attract the hangers on that only play to do the big thing or be with friends/SOs.
Not to mention there are no subscription fees to cancel, and I think that right there will prevent it from doing a complete faceplant, but I also think it will do better than a minimal MMO, for the exact same reason: Why leave when you don't have to pay? People may take a break, but the falloff precipice that many big name MMOs have faced recently just won't happen.
EDIT: changed wording to avoid attributing the article to poster.
'Sandbox MMO' is a PTSD trigger word for anyone who has the experience to know that anonymous players invariably use a 'sandbox' in the same manner a housecat does.
When your head is stuck in the sand, your ass becomes the only recognizable part of you.
No game is more fun than the one you can't play, and no game is more boring than one which you've become familiar.
How to become a millionaire:
Start with a billion dollars and make an MMO.
props! i knew i had seen that somewhere, i thought it was a repost from somewhere else on this forum lol.
i thought it was an ok read though
I would have to say that the author is too absorbed in him or her own self to even begin stating what anyone else wants. They come across like their stereotypical veiw of what a gamer wants is inherent in every gamer. If they said "I don't like GW2 for ... " then I could understand with the logic, but coming across like they know every gamers preferences just proves them to be a self absorbed blowhard. People like that should just shut up until they can get over themselves.
Props to Andry @SA forum for posting it.
Much better. Thank you.
Thanks man.
Apparently you can download the client and it outright deletes the old dat file.
if by mainstream you mean bad players, players that think they're great but arent and players that need to have epeen to justify playing, i'm glad i wont see them ingame... the game will be better off without them... real gamers will enjoy this game anyway
How can this lead to fail, when GW2 has this along with every other MMO that's still out there?Philosophy of MMO Game Design
Overall this post is rather ill-informed fanboism, but I took the time to argue the points it made poorly.
"GW2 getting rid of these substantive differences between the races and high-level gear means that while a player may look cooler than another, they aren’t actually better than anyone else, and players will quickly realize it is a shallow system"
In guild wars 2 you will be better if you play better, how is this a shallow system? in other mmos non cares who is better since, unless they all have the same gear, their win's are gear based.
I'm not sure how many boxes they need to sell to consider themselves a success, but I don't see them failing.
OP is actually right
Its a fact. And reason WOW will still thrive.
But there are also a lot of good gamers that respect skill. Fact is that games like DOTA , SC or CS are widely played still
So GW2 has its own niche too
Dont say stuff like that c'mon, I cant get around the whole "GW2 is all about skillzz" argument, To me it looks like any other MMO with a different class system and it will always have OP classes/weapons and under powered classes/weapons. No matter what the developers do a game can almost never Be balanced especially in the case of GW2's multi-weapon system unless there is only 1 class or if everyone uses the Exact same thing like for example a FPS game with lets say the same weapon.
GW2 is not even freaking action free aim so how the hell is it fully skillz? Sure it might have some kind of actiony twist to it but its still not action. Gear might not matter in GW2 but Classes and weapons will matter 100%. Ur saying that every weapon combination is the same as the rest, that alone would make GW2 really boring since there is no diversity. Some people assume that EVERYONE likes change but forget that 90% of the games that tried to change failed to do so. I don't follow GW2 too much so don't go all ape shit on me but If there is something that I might have mistaken in my post then feel free to correct me. Also correct me if I am wrong but Does GW2 offer any kind of Community based PVP? Like for example a Guild war between clans or small scrimish between players? These kind of things can be important in MMOs.
These are just my thoughts about the game, I was a little interested in it but unfortunately it wasn't to my taste. I hope that all the fans enjoy the game and all but at least keep your fanboisim to a minimum so People who don't research much won't be disappointed (like in SWTOR's case maybe).