should I come back to GW2?

[Rhaegar.5120]

Hello all, 

The first thing to flag is that I'm not too bothered about PvE when it comes to MMORPGS: I tend to play in PvE in order to gear up for PvP or for the sake of exploring etc. 

 

My main focus when I was playing GW2 was WvW and initially I loved it. When I left things had changed and my main issues were: 

 

1. roaming was very limited and most of the times you have to end up in some kind of zerg ball 
 

2 even in a ball group or zerg it felt like there no actual epic fights: more like.....we take the empty  keep...you retake it.....rinse and repeat.
 

3. class balance was appalling - at the time Mesmers were like Gods!

4. world/servers balance was also lacking 

 

Obviously time has gone by and things may be different hence my query. I am asking first as I honestly cannot be bothered to download and get into a game that is still not going to fit with what I am after. 

Please let me know what you think. 

Thanks 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Rhaegar.5120

[Sahne.6950]

In all honesty... EoD patch turned WvW upside down... the meta is still settling and some problems become apparent right now. But lets do all of it in order.

1) Zergballing is still and will always be the most viable way of playing if you are looking for alot of loot. But if you are looking for some fun fights or just wanna mess around in WvW.. that is still very much possible. I avoid zerging like the plague most of the time we run in groups of 2-4 people and try to go for tower. For us atleast its still fun. (altho some EoD comps/specs seem to be problematic)

2) If you are looking for epic battles in a zerg you should join a Fighter or GvG guild and run with them. What you are describing is your standard Pug-Zerg. they tend to go for the path of least resistance because its mostly some pve guys trying to farm for their legendarys. the epic fights is in the organized groups.

3) Class balance.... well....  Mesmer is not god anymore so dont worry! but there is a few new EoD specs that might be problematic if you are just returning. Harbinger (the new necro) has TONS of damage but he also dies rather fast. but you could say that the damage is stupid/overpowered. And Vindicator(the new revenant) is just p00ping out Sustain like theres no tomorrow....Regen/Barrier/evadeframes/you name it. The new specs also all tend to share their important boons alot.. so we are deeper in the boonballmeta then ever... OHHH!!!...And we have grenadescrapper that can basicly almost oneshot you from stealth while having permanent superspeed:D But all of these builds are easily shutdown by projectilehate, except vindi but hes just really t0nky so dont worry. Overall.... it is okey... if i can endure it... so can you! ❤️

4) probably as bad as you remember it to be... altho i have to say that the last 2 matchups were pretty even! BUT! Alliance will come *cough*soon*cough* that will probably fix alot of the population problems.

 

Conclusion: All of the problems that you had before..... are still here...  And they probably will be here forever. But if you have a few friends that you can play with on a regular you can avoid these problems for the most part. You dont have to join a zerg, because a group of 5 good players can have a really big impact(you cant bust a zerg but you can 100% go on a 60+killingspree when sweeping over those poor newbies in EBG). You can look for your own action and dont have to follow some lame Karmatrain. Well Classbalance... i have hope for that! just recently they started to balance PvP again and it cant be long till we see changes in WvW aswell! They even announced a big balancepatch coming this summer. severs are going to be balanced with Alliances, so you can be looking forward to that.

Overall WvW is still the big clumsy mess that it always was and that we always loved!  It sucks but please join us! its fun here ❤️

What server are you? We appreciate EVERYONE even people that are just getting into the game again. we are trying to build a BIIIIIG Guild for when alliance comes.

Edit: i just posted a YT video of my playing some weird class in a diffrent thread. maybe checkout the video^^ it might revive your spirits to come join us again.

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Sahne.6950

[lotus.5672]

Theres nothing in the expansion for wvw and pvp players besides new specs, you decide if its worth coming back or not. I know Ive been playing less and less with elden ring and lost ark out.

[Sahne.6950]

10 minutes ago, lotus.5672 said:

Theres nothing in the expansion for wvw and pvp players besides new specs, you decide if its worth coming back or not. I know Ive been playing less and less with elden ring and lost ark out.

Yeah... besides a big balance patch and a new Specialisation for every Profession... there is nothing for PvP players.... your right...

did you read the patchnotes?

Edited March 4, 2022 by Sahne.6950

[lotus.5672]

2 hours ago, Sahne.6950 said:

Yeah... besides a big balance patch and a new Specialisation for every Profession... there is nothing for PvP players.... your right...

did you read the patchnotes?

Balance patches arent expansion features, but go on tell me about all the other stuff that was added to wvw and pvp

[Nokturnal Lunacy.3186]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stay away, trust me, this game has been over run with ........

[DeceiverX.8361]

On 3/4/2022 at 6:30 AM, Rhaegar.5120 said:

Hello all, 

The first thing to flag is that I'm not too bothered about PvE when it comes to MMORPGS: I tend to play in PvE in order to gear up for PvP or for the sake of exploring etc. 

 

My main focus when I was playing GW2 was WvW and initially I loved it. When I left things had changed and my main issues were: 

 

1. roaming was very limited and most of the times you have to end up in some kind of zerg ball 
 

2 even in a ball group or zerg it felt like there no actual epic fights: more like.....we take the empty  keep...you retake it.....rinse and repeat.
 

3. class balance was appalling - at the time Mesmers were like Gods!

4. world/servers balance was also lacking 

 

Obviously time has gone by and things may be different hence my query. I am asking first as I honestly cannot be bothered to download and get into a game that is still not going to fit with what I am after. 

Please let me know what you think. 

Thanks 

 

1.)  Roaming is dead unless you're a ganker that likes to 5v1 people respawning and run from numbers.  The entire smallscale scene more or less does not exist anymore thanks to mounts/large group mobility letting the zerg defend.

2.)  The number of fight guilds has declined so... it's worse.

3.)  If you left when mesmers were good... it's worse.  Mesmer is pretty trash now but so is 99% of the builds and the busted ones make most of the history of mesmer look balanced by comparison.

4.)  It's worse.  Alliances won't save this - only improved/more diverse loadout possibilies/build diversity will.  Which as mentioned, is even further reduced than before.

So yeah if those are the issues which led you to stop playing - I don't think you'll have any reason to return.  Until ANet actually improves build diversity, removes mount mobility, and kills the boonball - things which will pretty much never happen because it'd imply they made mistakes in the past and have to undo them - it'll never improve.

[Guybrush.4762]

1) Roaming is not dead per se, their is still a lot of roamer out there and a small group of competent people can still force a loose loose scenario on the adversary team by threatening a big structure. ("if you don't come you will loose a big structure. If you do come, our zerg will push your tier and you will lose two.") That being said, the previous scenario require having an allied zerg somewhere that realize what you are doing. All in all, roaming alone will not push your server very far if that is what you are hoping for. A quick word about small group fighting bigger zerg. It is difficult to achieve but it is possible and if you want to be part of a zerg-busting comp you will need to enter a dedicated guild.

2) Your mileage may vary depending on your server and what is the overall mentality out here. I am lucky enough to be on a dynamic server where even high level guild and pug commanders communicate well with confirmed player. Basically if your server looks like mine, you can find a decent level fight oriented commander easily as long as you come in the discord server and preferably play a meta build. What you are referring to (squad that avoid fight and only cap structure) is called kt or ppt commander and they will always exist. This style of play is definitely more prevalent in some server though so switching server or waiting for WvW alliance may improve things for you if you don't like that way of playing.

 

3) I would not say mesmer are gods currently. WvW roaming is probably the end-game mode where you can find the most varied class population. At the time of writing some EoD spec seems overturned but they will likely be adjusted in a couple of patches. Outside of new content, the most powerful and better rounded roaming profession is currently Elixir+Grenade engineer imho. The most hair-pulling and boring to play against class is probably the perama-stealth, perma-disengaging, reveal cleansing, rifle/shortbow deadeye. It requires a specific set of effect on your traits and utilities to beat them semi-efficiently and most classes do not even have access to those effects to begin with. Just to illustrate class balance, one of the best roamer in my server routinely plays Tempest and he is very successful with it even though it is probably not meta.

4) Server balance is and always will be an issue. The servers as they are does not allow for perfect pairing and the fact that people can change server right after a re-link does not help. Alliances are aiming to answer world balance though.

Edited March 6, 2022 by Guybrush.4762

[Matthius.9104]

No. Dont come back. Its really not worth it right now. I would wait til the summer patch hits... then maybe

[Xenesis.6389]

On 3/4/2022 at 6:30 AM, Rhaegar.5120 said:

Hello all, 

The first thing to flag is that I'm not too bothered about PvE when it comes to MMORPGS: I tend to play in PvE in order to gear up for PvP or for the sake of exploring etc. 

 

My main focus when I was playing GW2 was WvW and initially I loved it. When I left things had changed and my main issues were: 

1. roaming was very limited and most of the times you have to end up in some kind of zerg ball 
2 even in a ball group or zerg it felt like there no actual epic fights: more like.....we take the empty  keep...you retake it.....rinse and repeat.
3. class balance was appalling - at the time Mesmers were like Gods!
4. world/servers balance was also lacking 

 

Obviously time has gone by and things may be different hence my query. I am asking first as I honestly cannot be bothered to download and get into a game that is still not going to fit with what I am after. 

Please let me know what you think. 

Thanks 

 

1. Roaming is kinda dependent on your server, servers you're facing, your time zone, your tier, eu or na will be different, it's all different. They did a huge general damage nerf patch two years ago, which took out a lot of one shots, but some still kinda exist, and support has become more powerful in roaming that it's normal to see "gank groups" of 2-4 "roaming" around than solos.

2. Boon ball group is still the meta. You can find some nice fights in the 20's range, not so much when the group balloons to 40-50 super boon balls, which certain servers will shove onto you every day.

3. Mirage were slapped and kicked and knocked down with a dodge taken away, they're not gods, not even close. Class balance is still appalling, as it ever will be because they barely do it, this isn't anets top priority unfortunately. This next round of elite specs weren't great, so fortunately the balance hasn't turned upside down like it usual does for new specs... yet. Metas for the new specs are still being worked out.

4. Alliance/world restructuring is being worked on, we've had 3 beta weeks of it so far, it should be coming out this year now that the expansion is out of the way. There's still bandwagoning happening in the meantime.

 

Everyone's opinion will be different. Wvw still my favorite game mode despite the heavy amount of piled problems with it, it's still good in smaller doses, long as you play a class/spec you enjoy or with friends.

[subversiontwo.7501]

On 3/4/2022 at 12:30 PM, Rhaegar.5120 said:

1. roaming was very limited and most of the times you have to end up in some kind of zerg ball

2 even in a ball group or zerg it felt like there no actual epic fights

3. class balance was appalling - at the time Mesmers were like Gods!
4. world/servers balance was also lacking 

 

 

The short answer to this is that nothing has changed beyond the new especs being added (which ofc., is a rather substantial change, if anything, but perhaps not relevant to your concerns).

The long answer is that you are not really describing game issues but rather server and matchup issues that are going to differ wildly based on where you play and what you meet. As a result, you are going to get different answers to your questions from people based on where they play and who they meet.

There is nothing in the game that stops you from roaming or makes roaming (or small scale in general) discouraged, despite the tears from certain players on the forum. People need to differ between what the game does and what players do. They're not the same thing. For example, I love havocking but for the past 5 years or so I have struggled to convince most of my friends to do it. It is not because of the game or the potential in it but rather it is a player thing.

When it comes to zergs and stuff the answer is that WvW was always built for different scales to co-exist on the same maps, again, despite the tears from certain players on the forum. If it is about boons or abilities, most things in the game were fundamentally designed to either be personal or spread to five players. That is not likely to change despite whatever feelings a solo player has. Whatever a ball then is, is a player-made definition and something that subjectively seems to differ alot so whatever concern you may have about that would need to be described better.

What can be said about balance is that the developer has not provided sufficient balance (and has not taken it serious enough to allocate sufficient resources for it) as well as having a track record of not keeping their promises to this regard. The only news to pass on here is that they have once again said that they are going to commit to this again after the EoD release and that we can expect a big balance patch this summer as well as smaller iterations over the spring and better cadence or more seriosity (including hires) going forward. Keeping that? Who knows, eh.

On an overarching note, I've said for years now, that the studio has seemed to struggle with being completely overstacked on art and narrative, while appearantly gruesomely short on systems design and programming. However, if you look at their carreers page now they have four positions in design and nine positions in programming open out of a total of 22. Perhaps they have caught on themselves (rather than seen a major wave of recent departures there).

Something similar goes for world/server balance. World Restructuring is still an ongoing project and over the autumn and winter there have been 3 beta weeks on it. Despite recent promises of prioritising it, they seem behind schedule and currently very quiet about it again. It is another one of those things were the developer has not kept promises either historically or in recent time.

That's pretty much it. Make of it what you may.

Edited March 7, 2022 by subversiontwo.7501

[Justine.6351]

Bought cheapest expansion and ended up playing virtuoso for about 30 min. Havnt logged back in for a couple days now.

[Gorem.8104]

There is a (apparently) Huge balance patch coming to the game later, if anything I'd say most should wait and see what they do ther before making any choices. 

[Sahne.6950]

On 3/4/2022 at 4:10 PM, lotus.5672 said:

Balance patches arent expansion features, but go on tell me about all the other stuff that was added to wvw and pvp

Well you are right balance patches are no expansio. But the new Professions are!

After 2 years of complete silence we finally see changes in pvp and as a result the meta is shifting. idk why that is not supposed to be a change in pvp. in my books even a slight change after 2 years of complete negation is a change and its one for the better.

[jpsssss.7530]

Honestly, pass. The elite specs i've tried so far are lukewarm at best, and wet paper bags filled with cow pie at worst. For the most part all of the older elite spec are still better. Blob wars is still a thing and I'm praying for alliances so I don't have to see the Jade Sea map queue every day...

[Zizou.2358]

No