Ravenmoon.5318

Has anyone put a thought into this? I was watching bunch of profession videos on YouTube to recommend to my friends according to their tastes. And since it's a youtube video and needs interesting content the authors went to great lengths to dig up lore for each elite specialization. I kinda liked that. Imagine, before unlocking Firebrand on your account you'd have like ... a scavenger hunt to read through some sacred tomes and at the end poof you unlock the specialization and you can dump hero points on it to unlock it fully. Or Bladesworn getting lessons from detective Rama What do you think?

It's literally the best QoL unlock as far as movement goes. It shouldn't be easy. If you want quick flight, sink 200 gold and go with the griffon. It's fun too.

Not fully disagreeing with you, however - one of the core pillars of this game back when it was launching was to put an end to the mindless grind. That's what we signed up for 10 years ago.

The fact that you get lvl 80 boost upon expansion purchase and not just exp booster is more than telling about the state of the game and the confidence the devs have about NPE. At least I'm happy Anet saw one of my solutions, which was to introduce mounts even to F2P players. Just read it in the patchnotes. I'm beyond happy about that one. Baby steps guys. Baby steps.

Hello, the 90s called and they want you back. One of the points I've been trying to make in this thread is that demographics change. See I get the point you're trying to make. I used to play Lineage 2. That game had no coherent story whatsoever so all you did was killing mobs and that's about it. That was gaming back then. WoW changed that for better or worse. After that Fortnite made things even simpler. I'm sorry to say it but gamers like you and I are in the minority and we're getting fewer and fewer. We are certainly not the demographic that's going to keep a business alive. What was acceptable back then isn't acceptable now. There are games that are fun all the time, not just at the endgame. Swtor being a good example from the games that you've listed. I had a blast playing that. I felt powerful all the time. Abilities were solid. Story telling was good and at least at the start my choices mattered. Gaming in general has changed. And if Gw2 is to last 10 more years, it has to change some things.

100% world completion achievement

I'm not wrong, it's the game that needs to change 😛

Uhhh?? Okay? I've done nothing but praises for the game and > only < talking down the NPE. You aren't going to sell anything without acquainting your customers with the system one way or another. When you go shopping for clothes, you get to put them on, to see how they fit. You go to the farmer's market, if you are smart, you do a tasting before buying. Sounds to me like you are a solo player, in a MMORPG. Which is fine, Gw2 totally allows that and I've played solo for years. However, on the off-chance you get your buddies together, until they hit 80, there isn't really much exciting content to do together. When I play with my friends, I don't stop to listen to NPCs. I listen to them and interact with them. Most of the time I turn down the master volume level to something like 5-10%. And I doubt I'm the only one. Core maps don't need updates, new players need to be introduced to the newer mechanics one way or another to show them what the game is all about NOWADAYS. I have no issues with the personal story bosses, except Zhaitan, but I'm actually talking about the NPE, not the final battle of the core game. Like I said in my previous post, I feel like Zhaitan fight is too late to get fixed. Some other dude wants updates there. What I want is to be able to play with my friends even in a limited capacity in a way that's fun for all of us. I'm sorry but sharing exploration and hearts is not something I go "kawaii" over especially since I've completed the world 2-3 times already. Interestingly enough, my friends that I introduced to the game don't find it that much fun either. They want to play together, not just run around together. Bottom line is ... if the game has nothing to offer in level 1-79 range, just shorten the grind. Apparently that's what they're testing already. I was hoping for more though, something like, reworking the minimum level for 1st tier fractals, lower barrier to entry even further for dungeons etc, etc. But meh. Feels like I'm pissing against the wind with this community.

I feel like this is one of those things that's too late to fix now. Speeding up the last mission wouldn't hurt though. Like it takes half an hour to complete and it's mostly you waiting for some monster to align itself in front of the gun. And then rinse and repeat with Zhaitan. But you know, maybe Zhaitan sucking so hard gave us some of the best world events in MMORPG history \o/. I think I like all the dragon fights post zhaitan. P.S: But it's never too late to fix the starting experience!

I agree that garbage is a strong word. At least Orr is dynamic and there's threats from everywhere, which to me makes it exciting ... kinda like Elden Ring, but I'll agree with you that players fall off way before Orr. I'd wager you one up and claim the dropoff is before level 30 even. And I wouldn't blame the story. The first act for every race is cool, albeit it takes like 20 levels to fully see it and there's no dungeons around. You literally go through CM to do hearts and stuff, I think there was 1 story chapter there like right infront of the dungeon and yet you can't go in for the next 15 or so levels 😄 . The second act with the orders is a bit boring I feel mainly because some setup has been butchered since NPE was introduced. The rest is questionable at best, but at least their storytelling improved in the living world seasons and the following expansions. Maybe throw living world season 1 for free to new characters? Also the story segregation per 10 levels is a bit ~~~~. Back when Gw2 released story was segmented into "recommended levels" but the recommended level did not stop me from entering. So instead of grinding more of the same for the next 5 levels I was like .... yeah, I'll take on the challenge of doing this chapter underleveled. Sure you die a lot, and some of the times I did quit because I was too low, but the option was always there. I don't know why they separated the story in chunks. It's not like you can go super high. You still have to go to the entrance of the story, so you do have to walk though a higher level area where mobs will definitely kill you if you are not careful. Also the activity compass that they introduced often doesn't prioritize the proper things. It goes for hearts/pois rather than events unless the event is super close. Would've been cool if I could toggle whatever I wish to do at that exact moment. I don't know guys, the MMO market, even though in general decline is still increasingly competitive. It's a foolish errand to have something that irritate your users in my opinion.

That was 10 years ago buddy. Demographics and MMO landscape changes. So does player expectation. Great, 10 years ago you ran around the world and you were happy. That's how things were done back in the day. Today is different. Besides I'm no longer a 20-something just graduated high school with lots and lots of free time. By latest demographics the average gamer is 30+ year old with kids. My generation keeps playing games but we have less and less time for it. Newer generations do Fortnite, not MMORPGs. Go to any MMORPG forum and ask which is the better/more populated MMO. Or ask people to recommend a good MMO to you. Chances are, 9/10 times you'll get TESO recommended. I know because I go to these forums and am one of the folks that claim that TESO is garbage compared to Gw2 but I often feel like a lonely bird there. It's absolutely insane. Word of mouth > any marketing material

No new player would ever hit the hero panel until level 80 I guarantee it. Which is a cluster%$#@# of ideas that barely stick together but I digress

That's the thing, if Gw2 wants to progress it doesn't need to compare itself with 2012 MMORPGs. It needs to compare itself with today's MMO and today's gamer, not the gamer from 10+ years ago because demographics change. Very difficult concept, I know. I disagree. SWTOR feels like a Mass Effect game ... with lightsabers. What pulls it back is the business model, really. ESO just kills it out of the ballpark with their lore. Gw2 can't hold a candle to TESO's start. Lost Ark, albeit having no actual lore, throws you straight into the action and it's extra enjoyable with friends. To the guys who spoke about downlevel, bruh I don't think you've been to a low level area recently. You literally 1-shot everything. You look at the mob you press anything that isn't auto attack and the thing dies. Like I said in the previous post, downscaling and low level dynamic event spawn scaling needs some work. My friends were barely able to obtain bronze medals when there were high level characters around. Not only they needed to throw multiple hits, most of their gap closing abilities, even weapon ones were closed because ... reasons. Also I don't know why the personal story starts at level 10. I think it's great and the fact that I can hop in is fantastic. Just grinding to level 10 initially is a bit boring. Dynamic events are cool and all, dynamic event chains even moreso but you can play for hours and not hit a single DE. Especially if you move around.

I feel like you need to take a hard look at this quote by yourself and consider the fact that your opinion isn't the only opinion either. Opinions vary and developers should strive to accommodate as many as them as possible so that everyone could be happy. Also having a strong opinion or being opinionated isn't bad either. It's what makes you different. However if your "uniqueness" is forcing insane bounce rates, maybe it warrants some looking into? My friends, usually before quitting ask me "well yeah exploration is cool and all but what can we do together?" And I'm like ... get to lvl 30 and I'll show you. They play for 15 minutes more and they're done. The game lacks speed early on. And for the people looking for it, it's just not there. What I've noticed is that human starter zones are a little better than norn starting zones. Norn starting zone is extra boring with the riddle hearts and low spawn crab traps. Especially since the heart description doesn't explain well what you're supposed to do. But again, it's not for me to decide what would make the NPE any more fun. I'm just saying it has made at least 8 of my (close) friends quit the game before turning lvl 30. Avid MMO fans, not Fortnite players (read - players who like the genre for many years) For comparison, since people bit too much into me mentioning Lost Ark - WoW gives you the dungeon finder at level 10 while some dungeons unlock at level 7. Sounds to me like if you are a group of friends, WoW is the better MMO in terms of teamplay. People mostly don't care about the players they meet in open world events. They come and go. They are not even from the same server so chances to see them a second time aren't very viable so it's kinda meh. Luckily I can't stand quest hub MMOs nowadays so I'm sticking to Gw2, but it needs to be more accessible.

But you did sink 500 hours initially. Meaning the start was so good it hooked you for 500 hours, which is no small feet. So they must be doing something right. Gw2 is hands down the better game in just about any aspect but the initial hook. People here talk about slow start, enjoying the scenery and stuff like that. Nobody has time to that. This is great for solo players. But if you join with a friend, most of the heart tasks are a chore because your task at hand is usually poorly explained. I'm a seasoned player and I don't give a kitten. But a heart with the description of "Help the nearby villagers" isn't much to go on. Sure if you click ALT there's few buckets to put out fires and whatnot but players nowadays are used to hand-holding. There's a reason the most successful MMOs on mobile are basically playing by themselves. Now, I'm not advocating to do that, but it's something to keep in mind when designing systems. The average gamer is changing. Everyone with 2 working brain cells in marketing can figure that out. Ultimately, a perfect game would accommodate both playstyles, the rushy type and the people who prefer to enjoy the scenery of the game. The people who just want to go to a dungeon with their friends and have fun beating the living !@#$#@ out of mobs and those who would rather do world events all day everyday. Personally I think world events take away from the game, because you can get maximum reward for pressing auto-attack. Stuff's too easy once you have critical mass. And yeah I'm seeing the complaints about EoD when they required a little bit more effort 🙂 It was the same after they reworked Tequatl initially - it was mostly failing, same for triple trouble - that's why instanced content is superior, but definitely not the only content ever needed. It's a fact of life, most people that started playing this game 10 years ago have multiple children by now, and gaming is the least of their worries, especially an MMO, even as time respectful as Guild Wars 2. The game needs fresh blood and most importantly, it needs to RETAIN that fresh blood. Some of my friends became candy crush moms to paint the picture. I'm sure ANet has the bouncing statistics. Which is why I guess they delayed the Steam launch. And I know I'm right. I'm one of those folks that were making daily posts that ANet needs to update the DirectX tech, just to be met by a bunch of gatekeepers telling me that some dev told them it won't change anything. Look at yourselves now. Game runs better than ever, even with a little bit of weird implementation, but I digress. We are at the denial phase now 🙂

Bruh, when you buy cheese from the farmer's market, don't you like ... have a sample from it? To taste it? Nobody is advocating to give mounts for free to new players. Or even the mounts that an endgame player would have. I'm talking about a freaking horse that'd be worth 1g (for example). To a new player that's a lot of investment BUT if that guy has friends like me, I'd happily send them even 10g. You get a horse in Lost Ark after 5 minutes of playtime btw. And there sure are better mounts. Also Lost Ark didn't start like that. The mounts were hard to unlock in the initial korean version. ez-mode mounts came later on to ... you guessed it ... attract new players. The other issue I haven't talked about but is there is that ... I can't help my friends. Yeah I can join in a party, send them money, but they have to do all the heavy lifting themselves, run and explore. There's no power-level mechanic even if I wanted to show them something (say, the first dungeon). He'll have to spare 10-15-20 hours to reach level 30. It's just not going to happen if he has to play alone all this time. And yes, they are playing alone because if i start to help them out in the early maps, I simply 1-shot everything. The power creep of a legendary/ascended with infusions stacked hero is insane in the starter maps. Meanwhile the personal story stuff has some waiting for things to happen so even if I 1-shot everything, you're not going to pass the story any faster than 20 minutes.

It's not for me to tell the developers how to develop their game. Much on the contrary of what you guys have come to expect. It is okay to point out that something isn't right. Just the same way I can point to a faulty rocket and say - Hey, this rocket isn't flying straight. See, I don't have to be a rocket engineer to point the obvious, but it's outside of my comfort zone to come up with solutions. Also I actually searched for such posts but I suppose they got burried. But ultimately, if you don't have anything constructive to say, why don't you try what you're selling? About the guy talking about my friend's preferences, as I said I MMO hop a lot. I have friends across the whole genre - wow players, ffxiv players, lineage 2 players, lost ark players, BDO players - none of them likes the first few hours of Gw2. Have you tried BDO? This game has maddeningly good start. It gets tedious at the end, but the start, the thing that hooks you, is amazing. Eve Online is constantly revamping it's starting tutorial. They recently introduced EVE Academy as well. And you sit here telling me that Gw2's NPE is all fine and dandy? Yeah, hard disagree on that one buddy. MMOs evolve. Get on with the times or get forgotten like Everquest. It's still running, but nobody gives a kitten

Like I said in some of the posts, I play since headstart and I much prefer the original experience but even it would've been outdated by now. I hop a lot through MMOs and honestly, the startup in Gw2 is one of the worst. On par with FFXIV's start up. But at least the FFXIV's community admits their NPE is trash. Steam launch, with the NPE as it is would turn Gw2 into the MMO with the fastest lost player-base. Okay, maybe the second MMO that did that. I forgot NWO is a steam game, lul.

The problem is, and it shines the most in older games, is that there's no "catch-up mechanic" and at some point you fall in a little bit of despair like ... "I'll need ages to reach this guy, rather play that piece of kitten New World, at least I have an even start with everyone". It's a conscious decision. New player definitely need catch-up mechanic. ANet devs figured that as well otherwise there wouldn't be a lvl 80 boost. I just think the boost itself is a band-aid. Even EVE Online has catch-up mechanics. I'm not saying to throw legendaries at new players btw, or full mount experience. But just give them a taste of what's to come. The systems are solid.

Yeah the PvP aspect is cool, always has been even with the weird balancing. It's one of the games that allows you to simply just hop into and have at it. My problem is solely with the PvE experience, especially group one. As for group content, it's fine as I can solo some of the encounters, used to run arah solo back in the day so I can pull my weight. But asking my boys to level to 30 while having most of their hero mechanics locked away behind hearts and exploration is kind of off-putting. I agree the design of core Tyria is old. It's an old game. It is what is it is. But we have fractals and I don't see why a lower level hero shouldn't be able to play fractals. WoW is old too but they keep it fresh with each expansion.

It's but one of the issues, but glad you see it that way. Good luck inviting friends over from other games though. A game shouldn't require you to play it for 100 hours before it becomes fun. That's how games die. You can hear more about it at Josh strife Hayes YouTube channel

There should be a middle ground. The veteran has a all sorts of mounts for free, a newbie would have a slower than raptor horse mount that can't jump for instance that would cost currency, currency that is hard to come by for new heroes . Gw2 didn't start with mounts but they made the best ones out there and that's a fact.

It's just insane that the game with the best mount system ever made doesn't offer the option to rent mounts for 1g/hour or something like that or some horse mount even that just let's you go from point a to point b a little faster. It's absolutely irritating seeing everyone just zoom around you and you being unable to get a mount until you reach lvl 80 or skip the game and boost yourself.

Are you reading any of the posts so far or you are just knee-jerking based on the post title? Nobody is asking to turn the game into "kill 1000 crabs to level up". Old titles IMHO need to be revised eventually. WoW got revised, everyone got back to lvl 60 because it was reaching insanity for new players. You always have to look for new player's experience. Also those at the end game. The rest have plenty to do in between already. However it has to be done well otherwise it becomes like lineage 2's goddess of destruction which turned the game into basically lineage 2.5 and it is one of the reasons it is a ghost town right now I also feel that the level 80 boosts were a wrong thing to implement but I guess it was necessary because of how annoying core game has become. Why boost someone that can't use their toon properly and introduce them to elite specs without these people having the slightest grasp of the trait system?!?