Questions from a possible returning player

Comments

• Tholdarian Member UncommonPosts: 67

  January 2014

  Hey Jaldren,

  I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge (haven't played a month or so)

  1. there really is no definitive trinity system; everyone can do, in theory, everything, some better than others. If you really want to play a full-on healer, you might want to take a look at engineer and elementalist, they're the classes which can pull it off quite well.

  2. 'too much content' is ironically not the term that comes in mind when looking at the criticism But yea, what is offered can be overwhelming, but remember: you don't NEED to run each and every dungeon, since there is no real equipment progression (there is a small one in the Fractals), so you can basically choose. Don't feel forced to do everything right away. Take your time.

  3. The thing with the three orders is ... well, weird and not as permanent as you mght think. Look at the story progression like this: first 15-ish lv story is influenced by the choices you pick at char creation; 15 to 30-ish is your order story, after that all stories kind of streamline into the Trahearne story arc, so there are no differences anymore (played the story up to 68 or so, don't expect much to chance in the last 12 lv; so far my order choice hasn't mattered since).

  4. Some events, especially the living world events, which are made to be done by tons of people at the same time, are pretty zerg-y. There is no point denying that. If you pay attention to the events appearing on the open world maps, though, you find lots of events which are the complete opposite of zerg-friendly. I'd suggest to take the event system for what it is  and be surprised by the really well done ones rather than being irritated by the really bad ones. S far as I know, healing and supporting is rewarded, but since you really can't be JUST support, throwing some damage into the zerg should go a long way.

  5. 'Lack of endgame' ... let me put it like this: GW2 is no WoW. There is no raiding, no tier 21425357 you need to reach, just lots and lots of possibilities to sink time and money into. There are several minigames (some PvP, some not), there are always your achievements, there are jumping puzzles, the different dungeons provide unique armor and weapon skins to fit your personal style, the grind for a legendary weapon is open for everyone. The endgame is what you make of it, to be honest. Just don't approach it with a WoW mindset of getting this next epix l00t gear and you should be entertained for some time.

   

  I hope I could help.
• zonjimasen Member UncommonPosts: 32

  January 2014

  Originally posted by Jaldren

  Good morning everyone!

   

  After a serious disappointment in other games like Elder Scrolls Online and Secret world, I feel the need to feed my MMO urges, so I;m thinking of coming back to GW2, but have some questions.

   

  Now, I played for a few months after release, then other things/people/games got in the way and stopped playing.

   

  I remember several things that I personally call "issues" (even though they might not be) and would like to know if they are any different now:

   

  - No real trinity system. I really like playing as a healer. As far as I remember, it was not possible, so I had to make a tank with a staff, which was not of my liking

  These wont change in a long shot. But...I guess you have to change your viewpoint radically for this. There`s a reason why ppl say gw2 is `different`. Healing(others) in Gw2, is more of a triage rather than an actual dedicated healing.(same goes for `tanking`, or aggro management in gw2 in general.). You dont really watch other`s ppl health bar and mash that heal, but rather there`s more towards damage control/support.

  This is more of my experience in normal exp dungeon(never done speed/farm runs). I play as an engineer, which is THE jack-of-all-trade class in gw2. I can dish damage, get out some controls, and support accordingly. On most dungeon runs, normally I dont really need to heal, unless something went wrong somewhere or the group ate an aoe attack. Engineer, for example can dish out about 5k AOE burst heal(dont remember actual value, but i think its close to this, according to the formula= roughly 1k heal per combo, with 4-5 combos. This is without any healing power stat, though like it matters even with. ) from combo fields alone. Wont top off someone to full, but should cover lost hp if someone made a mistake. If someone is being aggro`d and low, i just chunk out some cc and blinds.

  In small skirms in wvw or spvp, it is more or less the same. Damage control(reduction, cc, blind etc) > heals in Gw2. you just got to get it through you mindset. There`s no dedicated healing, but more of triage/backups.

  I`m a healer myself, coming from classic trinity mmo. I just prefer this kind of healing compared to classic one, where damage migitation through action is valued more than topping off health bars.If you play games like Dark souls or monster hunter, you notice that not taking damage/migitating damage helps a lot more than trying to recover lost hp.

  - Too much content, impossible to know what to do and when. Came back a few months back, only to be overwhelmed with new portals, NPCs, etc... So many I got overloaded and left again.

  Understandable. The only advice I can give is either to ask guildmates what are current event/living story arc, or head to dulfy.net. I`m a wvw player myself so I rarely had `lost` issues.

   

  - Story decisions are final. With the aforementioned tank, I mistakenly chosen to follow some thieves in the story, making it completely inappropriate results. A healer tank with an undercover faction? No thanks

   

  The story are story at best. It doesnt really have any actual impact whatsoever to your character to be honest. 

  - Open world events exploitable. Spam AoE and you get insane amount of XP. Heal and support others, and you get none.

  For levelling purposes, yes. This even rings truth to other mmos, where dps builds=faster levelling. Like I said in my first point, dont expect to go full-blown support/healer in an actual pve setting. The game is designed where healings and support are actions, rather than an actual role.(in a pve setting).

   

  - Never reached it, but people constantly complained about the lack of any endgame

  To be honest, the `endgame` that gw2 has is...pvp. WvW, or battleground. Not saying the pve isnt there, but MOST pve folks just grown attached to the classic raids and gear treadmill system, and GW2 doesnt have it. Gw2 does have `hard` content (e.g, revamped tequatl is the closest thing to raid we have, but ppl doesnt like it for being open event instead of an instance). I think its easier if you`re not a player who like raids altogether, but a player who plays gw2 for the sake of playing gw2. (or, like the saying playing for fun and not rewards)

   

  That's all I can think for now. Can someone shed some light?

   

  Thanks, and have a lovely Sunday!

  Concusion: Its hard if you say you enjoy healing in other mmo and try to emulate it in GW2, you cant. You can `help` others in other various ways though. I can see if you dont like GW2 if you`re a full-blown pve player (it can, at times feel limited at what you can do).

  But! If you like the pve, for the love of god, dont just go for dungeons and fractals. Play the game for fun! There`s jumping puzzle, guild missions, learn the lores, keg brawl and other things to do. enjoy the world that anet had build!
• Jaldren Member UncommonPosts: 363

  January 2014

  Many thanks to you both for your extensive answers. I'll give it another try with the mindset you have given me.

   

  See ya!
• Loke666 Member EpicPosts: 21,441

  February 2014

  Originally posted by Jaldren

  - No real trinity system. I really like playing as a healer. As far as I remember, it was not possible, so I had to make a tank with a staff, which was not of my liking

   There still isn't no trinity. The best choice for healing/support is probably a elementalist who do heal pretty acceptable and have some support skills and acceptable DPS. Guardians and engineers are also good support classes. Having someone playing support in a dungeon is a great advantage for a group.

  - Too much content, impossible to know what to do and when. Came back a few months back, only to be overwhelmed with new portals, NPCs, etc... So many I got overloaded and left again.

   Personally I think there isn't enough but just ignore the other zones. Either clear the start zone and then move to one according to your level or play the personal story as you level and play in the zones it takes you to. As for npcs it is kinda like when you start watch a new series (like Game of thrones or something), it gets overwhelming at first but you comes to know the important people after a while. Besides, the npcs aren't that important.

  - Story decisions are final. With the aforementioned tank, I mistakenly chosen to follow some thieves in the story, making it completely inappropriate results. A healer tank with an undercover faction? No thanks

   There are a few decisions like that, mainly the faction choice but order of whispers is a spy order and such do have use of healers and warriors even if they are more sneaky then the other orders.  As other said do the stories mix together at lvl 50 and after that is it more about choosing battlefields then you. The story is completely optional and just ignore playing it if you don't like it. At 80 the only thing about your choice is what kind of faction armor  you can wear anyways. 

  - Open world events exploitable. Spam AoE and you get insane amount of XP. Heal and support others, and you get none.

   That is better now but I still try to get in a hit to tag the opponents on my support characters to get maximum xp. Support classes tend to have an AoE attack you can throw out at times while you support.  In dungeons I havn't noticed this but even when I support I still do some damage whenever my heals and support skills are on cooldown.

  - Never reached it, but people constantly complained about the lack of any endgame

   Frankly I still havn't got my legendary weapon yet (but I am close, just need 250 gold or so for runestones, a few lodestones and some mats).  Getting full ascended gear do take some work as well (it is new) and IPvP and do dungeons as well as living story. There still could be more though, particularly guild Vs guild PvP and guildhalls as well as skills you need to cap.

  - Dungeons difficulty. Due to the lack of a Trinity system, most players are DPS, therefore I've never finished a single dungeon

   They have nerfed the story mode dungeons for that reason and done some balancing but the main reason it is hard for beginners is that while there isn't any trinity there still are things each player needs to do and group mechanics to learn. I recommend joining a guild with teamspeak for the first dungeons to learn the ropes. Once you know what to do most dungeons aren't that hard even if a few paths might be.

   Funny enough did the people who had most difficulties with the non trinity in my guild all played many MMOs while the people new to the genre had it way much easier. GW1 vets also could get into it easier. It is more something you get used to after a while (even if some people prefer trinity and others don't).

  Just assuming it is all DPSing the mobs is a huge mistake and will fail you both at world bosses (like the current marionette and wurm) and dungeons.

  Once you get used to it things are different and I myself at least prefer this to all trinity combat even though I think there are plenty of improvements that can be made still. Frankly was trinity combat pretty messy when I started to play Meridian 59 as well.

  Give it a shot but join a guild. MMOs are always a lot more fun when you play it together with other players and guilds is a great way to really get into the game.