Originally posted by enik3 I've only managed to get to level 19 despite playing since early release. I find myself logging on for maybe a half hour every three weeks or so. It's a beautiful game, but wow is it aimless and dull. I'm still looking for what people think makes this so revolutionary. It really looks like repackaging the same ideas to me -- and that repackaging took away more than it added, imho.
you'll have to give some examples in red if you want people to explain why they feel what's in blue
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
If you really don't like the first two hours of gameplay, then I doubt that'll change anytime soon. It looks like you have a fundamental problem with the concept of the game. Maybe it's just not your thing.
You're not giving a lot of information about why it is that you feel like you do about the game, so it's hard to give much advice about classes and/orr races to try before you give up. But if you genuinely dislike the game after playing for two hours, then maybe you did waste 60 bucks. You could try for a refund though, they've even given refunds to players who had been playing for several weeks.
I still lilke the game, have liked it from the start.
Originally posted by dauntSilver Just bought, downloaded and installed the game today. after playing for about two hours, I feel like i just threw away 60 bucks. I am playing as a human engineer, only level 4. I dont even know if I want to log on anymore. Please tell me it gets better and I'm just getting the wrong first impression :[
you probably picked the most difficult class to play well , then gave up after 4 lvls ?
try a more straightforward class like warrior. guardian, or ranger. Even then don't expect to stand in one spot spam keys like most MMO's. GW2 takes a bit of fonesse almost like a hybrid of a FPS game, a strategy game and a MMO.
Took me a few hours and a couple of classes to find my fit, but that is normal for me, rarely do I stick with the first class I try in any MMO. Oh and I am still have a way to go on my initial mesmer. Mesmers require even more finesse than engineers.
I had a very similar experience, and I know exactly why--it's the same problem I had with the first GW.
The world was pretty; immersive, even, at times.
Exploration being rewarded was nice.
The lack of dedicated healers and tanks seemed cool...
But the combat system and PvE mobs lacked variety. Having only 5 real abilities on your bar makes most fights play out identically (the right side of your bar has so many long cooldowns that they end up being used once per fight or less so rather than contribute to strategy, they got blown and you mvoe back to your real skills). The only change is when you swap weapons, but the problem is that swapping weapons midcombat isn't a strategically needed part of the game, so when you switch it's mostly to break up the humdrum, and even then can only be between two weapon sets. Most of the time the combat feels closer to something like DIablo: spam a few abilties until bad guy is dead, repeat. I've started playing SWTOR and at level 10 I have as many unique abilities as my level 50 warrior with any given weapon equipped. The variety is there, but the lack of immediate access to all of the abilities at once makes it feel like there is no variety.
And the lack of healers and tanks makes almost every group fight essentially a bunch of people soloing the same guy. The vaunted combos like shooting arrows through fire never comes up, because nobody cares hard enough to try--the payoff isn't worth the setup. This became apparent to me quickly as I am a tank at heart, but no matter how many times I succesfully stole aggro of some huge boss nobody switched tactics. They just let me get bashed until I died and then kept fighting on.
I made it to level 50, and all the while ran from place to place exploring probably 70% of the world (and going everywhere I possibly could up to level 50 because I love exploration), and I can't think of more than 15 mobs that are unique, unless I count things like 'wolf,' 'wasp' or the player races gone bad (Nightmare Court, Sons of Svanir, etc.). Dredge, centaurs, ogres, giants, skritt, ghosts, elementals, undead, skale, and those toad people make up about 80-90% of the mobs...and the one underwater race not named 'fish.' For as huge and exapnsive as this game is, running into the same creatures everywhere, over and over just adds to the "haven't I done this before?" feel.
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
Originally posted by dauntSilver Alright, I'll try and reroll as a new race/character.. I also have the graphics all turned on low cuz Im playing on a laptop, maybe thats why I'm just not being captivated by the game. My $1500 worth of computer parts are coming in this weekend, so I think Ill wait til then to play again.
That's it, you won't like it on your laptop, the game is demanding and when you can max it, it is a beautiful game. If you have to knock it down, it is amazing how fast it can get ugly. Really.
My first char was a warrior which I got to level 80. It was soooo boring I wanted to cry. Then I switched to guardian and I am having 100x more fun. And I normally don't play melee classes so the guardian would be the last class I would roll. But a lot of people told me it was super fun so I rolled it and I am having a blast.
The class you play makes a huge difference. Once you find the class that is the most fun for you, you will have a lot of fun.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
Mobs sometimes vary, and they are far from repetitive. There are mobs that knockback, knockdown, daze, stun, confuse and petrify. If you don't use your dodge, you'd be severely inconvenienced, making the fight longer than it should be.
For combat, in my opinion, GW2 is more engaging. You still have a skill rotation in GW2, but half of those skills are stowed away in your secondary weapon set. As a warrior, my rotation is Axe2, Mace4, Mace5, Switch, and Greatsword2. I would add in "For Great Justice" if it's off cooldown. For my mesmer, my rotation is Pistol4, Pistol 5, Switch, Greatsword4, Greatsword2, and Greatsword3.
Originally posted by dauntSilver Just bought, downloaded and installed the game today. after playing for about two hours, I feel like i just threw away 60 bucks. I am playing as a human engineer, only level 4. I dont even know if I want to log on anymore. Please tell me it gets better and I'm just getting the wrong first impression :[
Try another class. Even I, who isnt a big fan of the game, got a month of enjoyment from playing an Elementalist, as they have more skills than other classes. However high level, so called Elite skills, are quite lacklustre so dont expect them to add much enjoyment to the game.
Also the game is through and through a ThemePark so keep that in mind when playing it.
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
Mobs sometimes vary, and they are far from repetitive. There are mobs that knockback, knockdown, daze, stun, confuse and petrify. If you don't use your dodge, you'd be severely inconvenienced, making the fight longer than it should be.
Or in many cases, you'll go down really fast without realizing why, and sometimes it's simply because you weren't paying attention to your condition bar and kept using skills through Confusion, making the fight twice as difficult. While I was initially convinced that boons and conditions were arbitrary and almost pointless because of their short duration, they are nonetheless deadly. Some even have conditions within conditions, such as "stacks in duration" or "stacks in intensity", and paying attention to these things will make your life easier.
I sort of agree with Therooster about teamwork; in open world PVE, it's not so necessary unless you're only with one other person in a high level zone, then it can be rough. But I completely disagree when it comes to dungeons. While I've heard the complaint that everything is a "mess", from my experience I've found this couldn't be further from the truth. I'd like to see more mob variety though, I admit. It wouldn't be that hard to impliment now they've got the ball rolling.
Originally posted by kyssari Once getting 80 theres really no progression left.
Thats actually the best part of the game. YOu dont get to farm dungeon 1 100 times just to be able to farm dungeon 2 100 times just to be able to farm raid 1 100 times just to be able to farm raid 2 100 times.... .... ....and farm same dailies over and over again just to be able to farm dungeons/raids in meantime *yawn*
Its pure win
Originally posted by TheroosterAnd the lack of healers and tanks
Is the second best part of the game. Its so refreshing to see people actually need skill
And i see that you blamed the healers in your post. You were doing it WRONG lol
You are NOT tank, you dont "steal agrro" and you dont just stand there getting hit. Blaming other people for your failure....wrong game bro
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
Mobs sometimes vary, and they are far from repetitive. There are mobs that knockback, knockdown, daze, stun, confuse and petrify. If you don't use your dodge, you'd be severely inconvenienced, making the fight longer than it should be.
That doesn't even address what I was saying. Every fight with skritt is the same. The same goes for every other mob 'type'. And since there are so few, it ends up being repetitive. The small number of skills only makes this feel worse.
Originally posted by tintilinic
Originally posted by TheroosterAnd the lack of healers and tanks
Is the second best part of the game. Its so refreshing to see people actually need skill
And i see that you blamed the healers in your post. You were doing it WRONG lol
You are NOT tank, you dont "steal agrro" and you dont just stand there getting hit. Blaming other people for your failure....wrong game bro
Haha, if you say so. I know how to play. I never stand there getting hit. I do know how to dodge. I use knockback effects and knockdown effects. But I DO steal aggro because I outclass the other players in damage output and skill. And when I'm playing my elementalist and see someone taking all the shots, I switch to water to assist them. That's my point.
Because there are no defined roles, nobody takes a role and if you happen to be better at timing, your build and your sequencing of attacks, you end up getting the attention--especially with mobs that don't die quickly, like Champions. Is that a community problem? Sure (and is likely why dungeons function better: people pick roles). But whether it's a community issue or a built-in game issue the result is the same: every 'big' fight tends to end up with everyone doing their own thing. That's not teamwork; that's proximity.
I don't think the game gets any better or worse as one levels or progresses.
I liked it from the start and have been playing it constantly since release doing almost nothing but WvW.
The game is what they said it would be, I do the same thing at level 80 I did at level 4. I liked it at level 4 and i like it just as much at 80. I see no reason if I hated it at 4 I would like it at 80. Endgame starts at 1 right? If it sucks at 1 it will suck at 80.
this is my opinion on the game after 1300 hours played. Its just an opinion though.
Some games aren't for some people. This game is far from perfect.
Don't waste your time OP. Its a game not a plate of vegetables you have to eat.
I went ahead and paid for a few copies for friends back when it was on sale to do a little research. I found that the two who traditionally always skip reading quests, don't care about dialog/story and just want to rush to the end absolutely hated the game. Though the two who took their time, read everything, and watched the massive amount of details with each NPC within the game and the environment therein thought it was the best game that was ever created. One of the ones who hated it tried it again, hated it, but then tried it again and feel in love with it when we made characters together and played at the same pace without worrying about the things one naturally tends to worry about in MMOs.
There is also this video on Athene's channel entitled "Wait... Guild Wars 2 Doesn't Suck?" Whereby the videos explains they hated it at first, hated it again, and again when they kept on retrying it. Though in the end they fell in love with it and named it their game of the year for 2012.
Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing). German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century. Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now). I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things). In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while. If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this. If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own. Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis. Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
I went ahead and paid for a few copies for friends back when it was on sale to do a little research. I found that two who always skip reading quests, don't care about dialog/story and just want to rush to the end absolutely hated the game. Though the two who took their time, read everything, and watched the massive amount of details with each NPC within the game and the environment therein thought it was the best game that was ever created. One of the ones who hated it tried it again, hated it, but then tried it again and feel in love with it when we made characters together and played at the same pace without worrying about the things one naturally tends to worry about in MMOs.
There is also this video on Athene's channel entitled "Wait... Guild Wars 2 Doesn't Suck?" Whereby the videos explains they hated it at first, hated it again, and again when they kept on retrying it. Though in the end they feel in love with it and named it their game of the year for 2012.
pretty decent video he does explain some aspects of how to best enjoy the game for many people and how trying to play it like a traditional MMO will end up bad for most people.. i enjoyed it from first play but yea some people it may take some time to understand it more.. couple of my wow friends stopped playing because it was "too hard" for them as they say.. still class can make a HUGE impact on how you view the game overall though
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Originally posted by dauntSilver Just bought, downloaded and installed the game today. after playing for about two hours, I feel like i just threw away 60 bucks. I am playing as a human engineer, only level 4. I dont even know if I want to log on anymore. Please tell me it gets better and I'm just getting the wrong first impression :[
Such posts usually spell troll on sight. Just do not tell me you get grip on game in so short time. To me was great in first few minutes. Only thing is in time was even more and more happy.
It's a boring game cemented in gameplay convetions of a by-gone era.
It may very well be slightly more "evolved" than other representatives of the genre, but the genre as a whole is not keeping up with the industry in any meaningful way.
Unless MMOs are all you play, you're unlikely to have real fun with one in this day & age.
Originally posted by Thorkune I got my Engineer to level 46 and I just lost interest. When they introduced dailies, I quit for good. If I wanted to grind dailies, I would go back to WoW. That's the only reason I quit WoW. Why do devs feel the need to put dailies in their games?
Uhhh what? The dailies were always in the game, and were one of the better ways to both level and get karma. Its just now you get extra reward for doing them in the form of laurels.
And the things you can buy with these rewards are things that you can get as drops in Fractals, unlike WoW where grinding dailies is the only way to aquire that gear.
Feel free to hate on the game, but at least pick a decent reason to.
Originally posted by Thorkune I got my Engineer to level 46 and I just lost interest. When they introduced dailies, I quit for good. If I wanted to grind dailies, I would go back to WoW. That's the only reason I quit WoW. Why do devs feel the need to put dailies in their games?
Uhhh what? The dailies were always in the game, and were one of the better ways to both level and get karma. Its just now you get extra reward for doing them in the form of laurels.
And the things you can buy with these rewards are things that you can get as drops in Fractals, unlike WoW where grinding dailies is the only way to aquire that gear.
Feel free to hate on the game, but at least pick a decent reason to.
This. Also most of the time (not all the time though) the daily achievements can be done through normal gameplay so you don't have to go out of your way to do them.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
Mobs sometimes vary, and they are far from repetitive. There are mobs that knockback, knockdown, daze, stun, confuse and petrify. If you don't use your dodge, you'd be severely inconvenienced, making the fight longer than it should be.
For combat, in my opinion, GW2 is more engaging. You still have a skill rotation in GW2, but half of those skills are stowed away in your secondary weapon set. As a warrior, my rotation is Axe2, Mace4, Mace5, Switch, and Greatsword2. I would add in "For Great Justice" if it's off cooldown. For my mesmer, my rotation is Pistol4, Pistol 5, Switch, Greatsword4, Greatsword2, and Greatsword3.
You may want to consider dropping the "rotation" aspect of things, especially if you go PvP (WvW). GS4 phantasm is a high damage AoE cripple and often makes a good opener to establish control and help set initial distance. GS2 is good to toss out there, but it's better if allies are around or if you're a bit closer so you get benefits from the bounce. You can trait for an extra bounce too... if you're not doing that it's worth a look. GS3 can serve you well to hold on occassion... the boon stripping comes in handy right when the bad guy gets a regen for example.
I'm not in the least saying you're doing anything wrong. The design goal of their combat system is "easy to learn, difficult to master". Get into your secondary and in some cases tertiary effects the skills have and you'll be able to take things to another level by applying a situationalness that can, at times, be much better than a rotation or "off cooldown" style.
My offhand had been to date scepter/focus, but I've recently started playing with sword/focus for gits and shiggles. There's something interestingly fun about the melee aspects of the mesmer. I'm not "there" yet, but I'm not hating it...
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
Mobs sometimes vary, and they are far from repetitive. There are mobs that knockback, knockdown, daze, stun, confuse and petrify. If you don't use your dodge, you'd be severely inconvenienced, making the fight longer than it should be.
That doesn't even address what I was saying. Every fight with skritt is the same. The same goes for every other mob 'type'. And since there are so few, it ends up being repetitive. The small number of skills only makes this feel worse.
Originally posted by tintilinic
Originally posted by TheroosterAnd the lack of healers and tanks
Is the second best part of the game. Its so refreshing to see people actually need skill
And i see that you blamed the healers in your post. You were doing it WRONG lol
You are NOT tank, you dont "steal agrro" and you dont just stand there getting hit. Blaming other people for your failure....wrong game bro
Haha, if you say so. I know how to play. I never stand there getting hit. I do know how to dodge. I use knockback effects and knockdown effects. But I DO steal aggro because I outclass the other players in damage output and skill. And when I'm playing my elementalist and see someone taking all the shots, I switch to water to assist them. That's my point.
Because there are no defined roles, nobody takes a role and if you happen to be better at timing, your build and your sequencing of attacks, you end up getting the attention--especially with mobs that don't die quickly, like Champions. Is that a community problem? Sure (and is likely why dungeons function better: people pick roles). But whether it's a community issue or a built-in game issue the result is the same: every 'big' fight tends to end up with everyone doing their own thing. That's not teamwork; that's proximity.
Yes, your "superior skill" gets you killed every time and then you blame others who fight on for lack of skill
And blame healers in the process ha ha ha
wrong game bro, it so refeshing that you cannot blame anyone else but yourself and your skill (lack of skill) for your failures
open world stuff doesnt need any teamwork, its too easy, champions are easily soloable by someone with a bit of skill, yet you whine you get killed all the time
And no, if youre built right for "tanking" you dont do "superior damage", let alone get "attention" because of it. again, wrong game lol
I never said every time. And you're missing the point. You're trying too hard to troll and insult me because I said things about your game that upset you. I don't much care what you think about my playskill. I have a guild full of people who know I do just fine.
The reality is the game encourages zerg tactics because the is game repetitive and discourages teamwork--whether it's needed or not isn't the issue. If I wanted a solo game, I'd play Skyrim. And your comments about Champions being easily soloable proves my point. If the 'elites' are easy to solo, then why use teamwork?
Hey if you like the game and the way it plays, cool. But plenty of people have become bored with it and it has nothing to do with skill or lack thereof. It has to do with the fact that so many things that we want in an MMO are missing. I just outlined what those things are for many of us and I've had plenty chime in to agree with me. The game feels like an action RPG most of the time.
But hey...I'm glad your immense skill and ability to solo mobs intended for groups is keeping you interested...bro.
I never said every time. And you're missing the point. You're trying too hard to troll and insult me because I said things about your game that upset you. I don't much care what you think about my playskill. I have a guild full of people who know I do just fine.
The reality is the game encourages zerg tactics because the is game repetitive and discourages teamwork--whether it's needed or not isn't the issue. If I wanted a solo game, I'd play Skyrim. And your comments about Champions being easily soloable proves my point. If the 'elites' are easy to solo, then why use teamwork?
Hey if you like the game and the way it plays, cool. But plenty of people have become bored with it and it has nothing to do with skill or lack thereof. It has to do with the fact that so many things that we want in an MMO are missing. I just outlined what those things are for many of us and I've had plenty chime in to agree with me. The game feels like an action RPG most of the time.
But hey...I'm glad your immense skill and ability to solo mobs intended for groups is keeping you interested...bro.
I did find some things in your post interesting. You said you steal aggro all the time because of damage output, however that's not the only factor in aggro. Some mobs will target you based on armor type, proximity, damage, etc. There are plenty you can't steal based on damage alone. I've an elementalist as well and seen the various things in effect. It can make life interesting.
Also... you say it encourages zerg tactics, and while it's true that people do indeed zerg up I don't think that can be fully blamed on the game. I see those zergs more as people that don't have a full grasp on the combat system yet and are simply doing damage, etc. without really learning the nuances of the different skills. Most skills have secondary and even tertiary effects that really add a lot to them when used more situationally. Sure, you can grab a staff as an ele and in a crowd rain fire until your heart's content and think you're good at the combat. (NOTE: Not directed at you, a general statement!) But the elementalist that is dancing through the attunements will be a much better team player, applying various conditions and control as well as various buffs to allies. (That last part may be a trait, I forget... when I switch attunements allies in the area get buffs.) Elementalists are much more rounded and powerful when not simply being a part of a zerg and instead using their abilities to their maximum potential and benefit.
Last note on skritt... not all skritt fight the same. There are various types with various attacks, and they don't have a set rotation as to how they use them. A more clear example of a non-fixed mob rotation is the young karka, the ones with the tail shots. Once you start attacking them you can't be sure when they'll use that attack. You know they will, but you can't predict exactly when until they actually start to use it.
If you want to know all your skills, join a sPVP battleground and check all the animations and skills you can have.
I played it until 40, and I felt like nothing changes from level 1 up to 40. My gear always looked same with very small changes, even i tried to colour it everytime i had a new part. This made me sad abit since they really could make it more fun if you get something new looking at 30, without doing doungens.
I would level it up to 80, but after 40 the combat made me so tired after 10 mins playing. If you like 2handers, you will have to play the same 5 skills without any break, even you switch weapons and get 5 new skills, makes it feel very repeatable.
This is my opinion, in my opinion the game had nothing new to offer for me. I feel like many people who recently played WoW for years, like GW2 more than players who played other MMOs. Does not have to be true, but after reading threads up and down it feels like.
I would say yes. GW2 has this aimlessness to it, maybe due to the lack of traditional questing or whatever, but it took a while to reallly grab me. Then a month later, it let me go again, but nevermind that. It was fun for a while, once I got past the initial hump, and found a class/weapon I liked using.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
The game became more enjoyable for me as I tried other professions and races. To me the most important thing is to get hooked up with a good guild. There are guilds for every style of play and interest. An important tip that I found was to complete "heart quests" and vidt the quest giver again as it becomes a karma merchant that you can buy upgraded gear from. I started my first charactor as an asuran engineer and still love him.
Comments
you'll have to give some examples in red if you want people to explain why they feel what's in blue
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
If you really don't like the first two hours of gameplay, then I doubt that'll change anytime soon. It looks like you have a fundamental problem with the concept of the game. Maybe it's just not your thing.
You're not giving a lot of information about why it is that you feel like you do about the game, so it's hard to give much advice about classes and/orr races to try before you give up. But if you genuinely dislike the game after playing for two hours, then maybe you did waste 60 bucks. You could try for a refund though, they've even given refunds to players who had been playing for several weeks.
I still lilke the game, have liked it from the start.
you probably picked the most difficult class to play well , then gave up after 4 lvls ?
try a more straightforward class like warrior. guardian, or ranger. Even then don't expect to stand in one spot spam keys like most MMO's. GW2 takes a bit of fonesse almost like a hybrid of a FPS game, a strategy game and a MMO.
Took me a few hours and a couple of classes to find my fit, but that is normal for me, rarely do I stick with the first class I try in any MMO. Oh and I am still have a way to go on my initial mesmer. Mesmers require even more finesse than engineers.I miss DAoC
I had a very similar experience, and I know exactly why--it's the same problem I had with the first GW.
The world was pretty; immersive, even, at times.
Exploration being rewarded was nice.
The lack of dedicated healers and tanks seemed cool...
But the combat system and PvE mobs lacked variety. Having only 5 real abilities on your bar makes most fights play out identically (the right side of your bar has so many long cooldowns that they end up being used once per fight or less so rather than contribute to strategy, they got blown and you mvoe back to your real skills). The only change is when you swap weapons, but the problem is that swapping weapons midcombat isn't a strategically needed part of the game, so when you switch it's mostly to break up the humdrum, and even then can only be between two weapon sets. Most of the time the combat feels closer to something like DIablo: spam a few abilties until bad guy is dead, repeat. I've started playing SWTOR and at level 10 I have as many unique abilities as my level 50 warrior with any given weapon equipped. The variety is there, but the lack of immediate access to all of the abilities at once makes it feel like there is no variety.
And the lack of healers and tanks makes almost every group fight essentially a bunch of people soloing the same guy. The vaunted combos like shooting arrows through fire never comes up, because nobody cares hard enough to try--the payoff isn't worth the setup. This became apparent to me quickly as I am a tank at heart, but no matter how many times I succesfully stole aggro of some huge boss nobody switched tactics. They just let me get bashed until I died and then kept fighting on.
I made it to level 50, and all the while ran from place to place exploring probably 70% of the world (and going everywhere I possibly could up to level 50 because I love exploration), and I can't think of more than 15 mobs that are unique, unless I count things like 'wolf,' 'wasp' or the player races gone bad (Nightmare Court, Sons of Svanir, etc.). Dredge, centaurs, ogres, giants, skritt, ghosts, elementals, undead, skale, and those toad people make up about 80-90% of the mobs...and the one underwater race not named 'fish.' For as huge and exapnsive as this game is, running into the same creatures everywhere, over and over just adds to the "haven't I done this before?" feel.
TL;DR: The combat is repetitive and doesn't encourage working as a team. The mobs are repetitive and so despite new areas and new quests the game often ends up feeling repetitive even before you're halfways to max level.
That's it, you won't like it on your laptop, the game is demanding and when you can max it, it is a beautiful game. If you have to knock it down, it is amazing how fast it can get ugly. Really.
My first char was a warrior which I got to level 80. It was soooo boring I wanted to cry. Then I switched to guardian and I am having 100x more fun. And I normally don't play melee classes so the guardian would be the last class I would roll. But a lot of people told me it was super fun so I rolled it and I am having a blast.
The class you play makes a huge difference. Once you find the class that is the most fun for you, you will have a lot of fun.
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Mobs sometimes vary, and they are far from repetitive. There are mobs that knockback, knockdown, daze, stun, confuse and petrify. If you don't use your dodge, you'd be severely inconvenienced, making the fight longer than it should be.
For combat, in my opinion, GW2 is more engaging. You still have a skill rotation in GW2, but half of those skills are stowed away in your secondary weapon set. As a warrior, my rotation is Axe2, Mace4, Mace5, Switch, and Greatsword2. I would add in "For Great Justice" if it's off cooldown. For my mesmer, my rotation is Pistol4, Pistol 5, Switch, Greatsword4, Greatsword2, and Greatsword3.
Try another class. Even I, who isnt a big fan of the game, got a month of enjoyment from playing an Elementalist, as they have more skills than other classes. However high level, so called Elite skills, are quite lacklustre so dont expect them to add much enjoyment to the game.
Also the game is through and through a ThemePark so keep that in mind when playing it.
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Or in many cases, you'll go down really fast without realizing why, and sometimes it's simply because you weren't paying attention to your condition bar and kept using skills through Confusion, making the fight twice as difficult. While I was initially convinced that boons and conditions were arbitrary and almost pointless because of their short duration, they are nonetheless deadly. Some even have conditions within conditions, such as "stacks in duration" or "stacks in intensity", and paying attention to these things will make your life easier.
I sort of agree with Therooster about teamwork; in open world PVE, it's not so necessary unless you're only with one other person in a high level zone, then it can be rough. But I completely disagree when it comes to dungeons. While I've heard the complaint that everything is a "mess", from my experience I've found this couldn't be further from the truth. I'd like to see more mob variety though, I admit. It wouldn't be that hard to impliment now they've got the ball rolling.
Thats actually the best part of the game. YOu dont get to farm dungeon 1 100 times just to be able to farm dungeon 2 100 times just to be able to farm raid 1 100 times just to be able to farm raid 2 100 times.... .... ....and farm same dailies over and over again just to be able to farm dungeons/raids in meantime *yawn*
Its pure win
Is the second best part of the game. Its so refreshing to see people actually need skill
And i see that you blamed the healers in your post. You were doing it WRONG lol
You are NOT tank, you dont "steal agrro" and you dont just stand there getting hit. Blaming other people for your failure....wrong game bro
That doesn't even address what I was saying. Every fight with skritt is the same. The same goes for every other mob 'type'. And since there are so few, it ends up being repetitive. The small number of skills only makes this feel worse.
Haha, if you say so. I know how to play. I never stand there getting hit. I do know how to dodge. I use knockback effects and knockdown effects. But I DO steal aggro because I outclass the other players in damage output and skill. And when I'm playing my elementalist and see someone taking all the shots, I switch to water to assist them. That's my point.
Because there are no defined roles, nobody takes a role and if you happen to be better at timing, your build and your sequencing of attacks, you end up getting the attention--especially with mobs that don't die quickly, like Champions. Is that a community problem? Sure (and is likely why dungeons function better: people pick roles). But whether it's a community issue or a built-in game issue the result is the same: every 'big' fight tends to end up with everyone doing their own thing. That's not teamwork; that's proximity.
I don't think the game gets any better or worse as one levels or progresses.
I liked it from the start and have been playing it constantly since release doing almost nothing but WvW.
The game is what they said it would be, I do the same thing at level 80 I did at level 4. I liked it at level 4 and i like it just as much at 80. I see no reason if I hated it at 4 I would like it at 80. Endgame starts at 1 right? If it sucks at 1 it will suck at 80.
this is my opinion on the game after 1300 hours played. Its just an opinion though.
Some games aren't for some people. This game is far from perfect.
Don't waste your time OP. Its a game not a plate of vegetables you have to eat.
I went ahead and paid for a few copies for friends back when it was on sale to do a little research. I found that the two who traditionally always skip reading quests, don't care about dialog/story and just want to rush to the end absolutely hated the game. Though the two who took their time, read everything, and watched the massive amount of details with each NPC within the game and the environment therein thought it was the best game that was ever created. One of the ones who hated it tried it again, hated it, but then tried it again and feel in love with it when we made characters together and played at the same pace without worrying about the things one naturally tends to worry about in MMOs.
There is also this video on Athene's channel entitled "Wait... Guild Wars 2 Doesn't Suck?" Whereby the videos explains they hated it at first, hated it again, and again when they kept on retrying it. Though in the end they fell in love with it and named it their game of the year for 2012.
pretty decent video he does explain some aspects of how to best enjoy the game for many people and how trying to play it like a traditional MMO will end up bad for most people.. i enjoyed it from first play but yea some people it may take some time to understand it more.. couple of my wow friends stopped playing because it was "too hard" for them as they say.. still class can make a HUGE impact on how you view the game overall though
I angered the clerk in a clothing shop today. She asked me what size I was and I said actual, because I am not to scale. I like vending machines 'cause snacks are better when they fall. If I buy a candy bar at a store, oftentimes, I will drop it... so that it achieves its maximum flavor potential. --Mitch Hedberg
Such posts usually spell troll on sight. Just do not tell me you get grip on game in so short time. To me was great in first few minutes. Only thing is in time was even more and more happy.
It's a boring game cemented in gameplay convetions of a by-gone era.
It may very well be slightly more "evolved" than other representatives of the genre, but the genre as a whole is not keeping up with the industry in any meaningful way.
Unless MMOs are all you play, you're unlikely to have real fun with one in this day & age.
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Uhhh what? The dailies were always in the game, and were one of the better ways to both level and get karma. Its just now you get extra reward for doing them in the form of laurels.
And the things you can buy with these rewards are things that you can get as drops in Fractals, unlike WoW where grinding dailies is the only way to aquire that gear.
Feel free to hate on the game, but at least pick a decent reason to.
This. Also most of the time (not all the time though) the daily achievements can be done through normal gameplay so you don't have to go out of your way to do them.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
You may want to consider dropping the "rotation" aspect of things, especially if you go PvP (WvW). GS4 phantasm is a high damage AoE cripple and often makes a good opener to establish control and help set initial distance. GS2 is good to toss out there, but it's better if allies are around or if you're a bit closer so you get benefits from the bounce. You can trait for an extra bounce too... if you're not doing that it's worth a look. GS3 can serve you well to hold on occassion... the boon stripping comes in handy right when the bad guy gets a regen for example.
I'm not in the least saying you're doing anything wrong. The design goal of their combat system is "easy to learn, difficult to master". Get into your secondary and in some cases tertiary effects the skills have and you'll be able to take things to another level by applying a situationalness that can, at times, be much better than a rotation or "off cooldown" style.
My offhand had been to date scepter/focus, but I've recently started playing with sword/focus for gits and shiggles. There's something interestingly fun about the melee aspects of the mesmer. I'm not "there" yet, but I'm not hating it...
Oderint, dum metuant.
I never said every time. And you're missing the point. You're trying too hard to troll and insult me because I said things about your game that upset you. I don't much care what you think about my playskill. I have a guild full of people who know I do just fine.
The reality is the game encourages zerg tactics because the is game repetitive and discourages teamwork--whether it's needed or not isn't the issue. If I wanted a solo game, I'd play Skyrim. And your comments about Champions being easily soloable proves my point. If the 'elites' are easy to solo, then why use teamwork?
Hey if you like the game and the way it plays, cool. But plenty of people have become bored with it and it has nothing to do with skill or lack thereof. It has to do with the fact that so many things that we want in an MMO are missing. I just outlined what those things are for many of us and I've had plenty chime in to agree with me. The game feels like an action RPG most of the time.
But hey...I'm glad your immense skill and ability to solo mobs intended for groups is keeping you interested...bro.
I did find some things in your post interesting. You said you steal aggro all the time because of damage output, however that's not the only factor in aggro. Some mobs will target you based on armor type, proximity, damage, etc. There are plenty you can't steal based on damage alone. I've an elementalist as well and seen the various things in effect. It can make life interesting.
Also... you say it encourages zerg tactics, and while it's true that people do indeed zerg up I don't think that can be fully blamed on the game. I see those zergs more as people that don't have a full grasp on the combat system yet and are simply doing damage, etc. without really learning the nuances of the different skills. Most skills have secondary and even tertiary effects that really add a lot to them when used more situationally. Sure, you can grab a staff as an ele and in a crowd rain fire until your heart's content and think you're good at the combat. (NOTE: Not directed at you, a general statement!) But the elementalist that is dancing through the attunements will be a much better team player, applying various conditions and control as well as various buffs to allies. (That last part may be a trait, I forget... when I switch attunements allies in the area get buffs.) Elementalists are much more rounded and powerful when not simply being a part of a zerg and instead using their abilities to their maximum potential and benefit.
Last note on skritt... not all skritt fight the same. There are various types with various attacks, and they don't have a set rotation as to how they use them. A more clear example of a non-fixed mob rotation is the young karka, the ones with the tail shots. Once you start attacking them you can't be sure when they'll use that attack. You know they will, but you can't predict exactly when until they actually start to use it.
Oderint, dum metuant.
If you want to know all your skills, join a sPVP battleground and check all the animations and skills you can have.
I played it until 40, and I felt like nothing changes from level 1 up to 40. My gear always looked same with very small changes, even i tried to colour it everytime i had a new part. This made me sad abit since they really could make it more fun if you get something new looking at 30, without doing doungens.
I would level it up to 80, but after 40 the combat made me so tired after 10 mins playing. If you like 2handers, you will have to play the same 5 skills without any break, even you switch weapons and get 5 new skills, makes it feel very repeatable.
This is my opinion, in my opinion the game had nothing new to offer for me. I feel like many people who recently played WoW for years, like GW2 more than players who played other MMOs. Does not have to be true, but after reading threads up and down it feels like.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
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