I can't stress how much I love this game. It's beautiful and I love the work the team has put into it. That said, it has its blemishes and I have some suggestions for thought. These are mostly PvP related, as I honestly don't have much to say about the PvE. #1 PROFFESSION COLOR NAMEPLATES / CLASS COLOR NAMEPLATESThis one is simple. Enemy player nameplates should be colored to their class. Every enemy nameplate is red, which is extremely difficult to read. In a game like guild wars where there are many enemy player pets, it can be extremely difficult to read what you're up against. I can't tell you how many times a game has ended in frustration over not accurately reading how many players were in a single fight. When an enemy can have 5 pets, It's very difficult to notice player #2 come in from left side when he has the same color nameplate as everything else surrounding him. Player silhouettes are also not very easy to read, and there is no obvious gear that is unique to a class, so unless you have a trained eye for that class's abilities, it's very difficult. #2 PROPER UI SCALINGIn Guild Wars, it is extremely important to keep tabs on your conditions/boons and other effects on your character. It is even more important to be able to see these things on your enemies. Honestly, being able to read these as small as they are on the screen is a tad ridiculous. For such important information, they're displayed at a fairly miniscule size. A simple fix would be to allow more customizable interfaces. These should also be moveable and anchored anywhere, as not everyone read certain areas of the screen as well as others. #3 HELPFULL NAMEPLATESThis goes back to how difficult it can be to read what's going on in guild wars. Players can very often times be in a state of blocking, invulnerability, etc., and it won't be obvious. If you have a trained eye, sure. But for someone who doesn't, it can feel like you've just spent your big cooldowns on a seemingly vulnerable target, only to find out they were immortal for that period of time. The game does not have very many skill animations that are easy to read, or sound effects that queue us in on what's happening.The suggestion: create simple, easy to read symbols that describe the players state, and have them displayed over their nameplates. You can read the skill abilities that are active under their names, but unless you're versed in the class they're playing, good luck.In addition to this, there should be a simular symbol and sound for when a player stun breaks. It's nice to know how they got out of your crowd control. #4 BETTER MOVEMENT/LESS REALISTIC CONTROLSThis would be an unrealistic overhall, but I'm going to mention it. The game's controls are fine, but they are far from perfect. I'm just going to list a few changes that would help the controls of the game.-Strafing speed should be the same as forward movement speed.-Character turning should not have an animation. It should snap instantly.-The character should move in the direction the camera is facing when using an ability that moves the character forward.-Entering combat should not slow down movementspeed. (This one I've always been confused about. I don't see this bringing anything good to the game. It makes everything feel heavy, and for this reason alone I don't play classes with bad mobility).-Characters should not be forced to face their target. Strafing should be allowed while attacking. (Having your character snap towards your target when you're trying to move backwards forces you to backpettle. This slows you down. Slow is not fun. Slow gets you killed in a match.)As a former World of Warcraft addict, I and many others will say WoW has the best controls out of any MMO out there. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel (that goes to all MMO developers). #5 LIVE READ OF ACTIVE EFFECTSYou're in a match, and the next thing you know you can't move. What's happening? What ability did they use? How long does it last and what's its cooldown? Does it have a name? I would love to know without needing a PHD in the game. Preferably, this feed should be somewhere visbale, and very clear to the eye. To steal from World of Warcraft again, whenever you are stunned, you are given a feed on the middle of your screen that lets you know what's happening. This is great because it avoids confusion, and familiarizes you with the abilities without needing to spend precious seconds looking for small icons on your screen. *And a bonus...Remove the delay from revenant staff 5. I was shocked to see my favourite ability in the game stomped into the mud with this little revenge peice. If the idea was to give players the opportunity to roll out of the way, then there are pleny of other cc abilities that require the same change. Most of these could be fixed with more leeway on player addons, or addon support. But we can only dream. Thank you for reading. Hate it, insult it, or just chat about the ideas. It's food for thought. Of course, I don't expect any of these changes to see the light of day, but it would be nice to see in a form of ingame testing. I'm looking forward to the next expansion, and I want to see this game boom to the next level and be the best it can be.
The Vindicator specialization for Revenant was more complicated than what some players may have been used to. However, after grasping the class and getting used to the new abilities on the Legendary Alliance Stance, it made for interesting, fun gameplay. It forced players to use their abilities wisely, given the situation they were in. The recent change forces players to manually convert the abilities and destroys the flow the class originally had. This is done through an ability called Alliance Tactics. Now, instead of being given a versatile, changing, tool set, we are stuck manually swapping abilities. I feel that this goes against the heart and soul the developers originally had for the specialization. Here are some faults of the I see behind the most recent change: Being forced to manually swap the abilities means that lesser skilled players will be neglecting half of their tool set. Being forced to manually swap abilities adds additional inputs, and wait times. Should one lag while using Alliance Tactics, this delay is increased. The added delay caused by being forced to use Alliance Tactics disrupts the flow and makes the player vulnerable. Being forced to use Alliance Tactics to utilize your other abilities destroys the point and originality Legendary Alliance Stance had. It is a massive nerf. Without having the support abilities on hand, your team won't be receiving the healing and cleanses they would otherwise be receiving. With the recent change, builds using Legendary Alliance Stance won't utilize the stance's entire tool set. Having experimented and created a support build using Legendary Alliance Stance, I never found the need to use Alliance Tactics. If players aren't going to use what's given to them, then it may as well not be in the game in the first place. Some pros to the change: It simplifies the class for lesser skilled players. It makes for a more consistent playstyle. If your interest is to only use the support abilities in Legendary Alliance Stance, this change supports that. Suggestions: I'm not going to say things were perfect the way they were. In the previous beta, I found myself using abilities for the soul purpose of swapping them to their alternate. This may have been less than ideal, but it was fine. Remove the cast time on Alliance Tactics. Removing the cast time will greatly help with the flow. If weapon swapping had a cast time, it would severely damage the gameplay - I see no difference here. Introduce a new mechanic that encourages players to swap between abilities. Players should want to utilize their entire tool set. Add a third ability that locks and unlocks the abilities nature to convert to their alternate after use. Closing Thoughts: In order to compete with the new specializations, I feel that utilizing the entire set of abilities given from Legendary Alliance Stance is necessary. However, as things currently are in the beta, utilizing the entire toolset has become slower, difficult, and more punishing to those with higher ping. Vindicator is a lot of fun, and I applaud the creativity of the game designers who brought it to light. I look forward to End of Dragons, and I hope to be having fun in the arena slaying with my Revenant's new great sword!
