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Guild Wars 2 | Heart of Thorns Review in Progress | MMORPG
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Guild Wars 2 | Heart of Thorns Review in Progress | MMORPG
I’ve spent probably 15 hours since Friday in ArenaNet’s first expansion for Guild Wars 2, Heart of Thorns. In that time, I’ve had almost as much fun as I ever did in the game’s first months, but there’s also a hint of frustration as some systems seem a bit grindy at first glance. Today marks the first of several articles leading up to our final review, so read on for our initial thoughts.
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Currently playing: GW2
Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders
I think that since they didn't improve rewards for the entire game and not just the expansion that they are still delusional about what people want and the true psychology of MMORPGs in which rewards are the central part of the game, not necessarily just for progress but definitely as a part of the standard loot system.
I think they need to take a page from the Elder Scrolls Online book in order to understand the draw of the MMORPG genre in which you can and do get any reward from anywhere. (I've stolen several legendary level items within the past month alone for example. Something that never happened in GW2's laughably imbalanced lopsided loot system that's plagued this game ever since it was conceived by John Smith the economist)
I was not impressed with the afterthought class aka the Engineer when I saw it because they still have yet to actually balance the class properly for PVE in all of the previous abilities and skills it already had such as explosives, bombs, chemical warfare etc and they still have yet to remove backpacks.
Of course he hasn't, otherwise he would have known about the engineer. He believes there is a "silence" policy, yet he is oblivious to things that they have talked about, implemented, and moved beyond. This sort of post reminds of many critics where they forget how to listen because their mouth doesn't stop talking. The unfortunate thing, is that I'm sure he would like to be recognized as someone worth listening to but until he takes the time to actually become informed he won't be.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Frankly, I was not amused. I was even less amused as an "altaholic" when I realized I was probably never going to grind specialization on any toon but my main at this cost of time.
Yup, it's a design decision.
Another design decision that isn't touched on here is the emphasis on large guilds as expressed through guild halls. A member of my 250 person active guild, which is cheerfully going on flax hunting expeditions disguised as mastery point grinds all over the new zones, is also in a 3 person "friend guild."
He and I were chatting about how he and his two friends were going to get themselves a guild hall. I expressed skepticism, as I'm looking at upgrading our guild hall as the better part of a year project for 250 people. That makes it, generously, a couple decades for three people with young families.
"But," he said, shocked, "Anet said they were going to treat small guilds respectfully in this process!"
I shrugged. "Maybe by respectfully they mean they are willing to let you put in the sweat, and not locking you out of the opportunity to try? Or, alternatively, they are giving you the opportunity to go through black lion and buy gold with currency so you can actually pull it off with three people in a shorter time if you really really want to, and that's a marketing code word for respect? But look at our output of a couple casks a day, and look at the tavern upgrades. Unless you three have no jobs and love spending 18 hours a day chasing flax and whatever's next on the guildhall donation list, just do the math on the time."
And, then he got angry with ArenaNet, which honestly, I'm not sure is appropriate.
This is a guild oriented game, and they let you be in multiple guilds. Not every guild has to have the primo infrastructure. Guilds are supposed to be major influencers in history in this world, by lore. A major force in society. Guild halls are a piece of social engineering via game mechanics to make the guild a form of visible commitment.
This game focuses on community, group content, and has deep roots there. In a game industry where nearly every damn game is a solo RPG with other people spamming world chat, it's nice to see some mindful support given to people who like to play together not just because they must to complete content, or because it lets them excel in the meta, but because it's our passion to do things in a community.
Game club. Game choir. We get together, we hang out, we rehearse, we perform, we rinse and repeat, we try for pitch perfect but deal with the sour notes. We know one another through gaming. We build community like Minecraft geeks build stuff. Well, now we're building a guild hall. Fun! An outward expression of our inward futz. Our own hall of monuments.
I really like that.
I was a guild leader and a wvw commander to a small guild prior to leaving the game. I realized that guild wars 2 was about quantity > quality in which the more people in a guild, the more points they get. I managed to prove that 50 - 75 active and strong people, can outperform by gameplay a 500 man guild. However, I also proved that 500 people is 500 people and 75 people even with greater skill and talent will never get the points and ranking of a 500 man guild. This means that guild wars tends to reward numbers over anything... ...yes, even with havok squads doing amazing things.. it still is about numbers.
I have played a lot of mmorpgs, lately been in FFXIV and I find that there are similarities...... but the greatest similarity is the belief that joining the same event (GWII) or same fate (FFXIV) has people actually play together.
Truth is that they do not! Yes, many people do play the events, but they each do their own thing. Few events require any real coordination. Basically, I am around people and even though I see a lot going on in both games, I feel alone. Both games have a plethora of guilds in which people can talk up a storm in guild chat, but not do anything together enough for guild members to truly get to know each other.
My behavior pattern is that I start games and join guilds. During this time I am leveling up while chatting. Finally, I reach high enough levels to find that people within guilds have their on internalized parties and that I have been used for the guild points I can give the guild. Eventually I leave guilds after drawing a blank that while many conversations existed, when I reached out...looking to play with others.... in some games I was accused of asking for a handout, ridiculed, and received no help, or just minimal help from within the guilds I was member to.
In the case of guild wars 2 where people can join multiple guilds simultaneously, it became a game on who can give the biggest handout to their members more than anything.
My behavior then lead me to start guilds that are smaller and more intimate, resulting in a small number of highly skilled players outshining larger guilds in performance of content, but not in pure raw numbers. MMORPGs rewards quantity over quality and the last eight games that I have played have had the same song and dance. (I am capped in all of those games)
I do not care about the expansion. Guild Wars 2 is a game from 2012 and three years for an expansion that introduces a grindfest and brands it as something else still is a grind. All the bells and whistles will not fix the main problem with the genre, and its the community of players...
The GW2 community is only helpful in some servers. I was in a dozen servers during my two year stay there....and it took a very long time to find a good server where I stayed long enough to feel its impression on me we would be a good one. However, community-wise the game community is so bad that Arenanet closed sections in their own forums over the years that made many feel like it was done to control the language and opinion of people. They also introduced stricter guidelines on how to post and took a "punish anything negative approach." Myself and many others were infracted for being intelligent, logical, and objective..... but we angered them since people sided with us, and they were all about making their page look like everyone supports and loves the game, while punishing and discouraging anyone else.
In fact, there were many people who feared posting youtube videos of their builds out of the fear that arenanet would destroy entire builds frequently through patching. My class build on elementalist was destroyed eleven times in two years to the point my bank tabs are filled with all the weapons and armors in case the stats make a comeback for other builds in the future.
Some do know me under this username, and I can understand the retiation and flamewar i shall receive for posting this. I am sure I am not the only one who shares similar views, I am happy I can express myself as a trained educator with an art and science background.
I will just say that without posts like this....without real awareness of experience spread to the many without fear, and a unified approach to putting our foot down and demanding for a better experience... all we will truly get according to most reviewers (and simplifying their arguments) is that you get more quantity over quality with a grind in between to limit the player's speed at consuming such quantity.
....that to me feels like punishment and control over any freedom anet promised its playerbase.
EDIT: I posted this and remembered that this forum forces members to write in their text formatting as well. I also proofread a bit.