What do you feel were the harmful changes to the game and player experience?

[Gehenna.3625]

On 11/28/2022 at 2:00 AM, Shadowmoon.7986 said:

Then we got the wet blanket of the IBS, where they copy pasted ls3 mobs but cut their damage in half. This was also where you had story bosses the npcs could kill themselves. I would say IBS made the playerbase dumber, making think break bars are just QTE to hit special action key.  EoD at least try to reverse course starting the game with a mandatory tutorial on dodging and break bars.

I don't think this is true. Break bars and CC have been an issue since the start of this game. And EoD tried to do it perhaps but I would put money on it that the majority of the player base will have forgotten that "pesky" heart well before they leave Shing Jea. And why? Because they don't need it for most of the EoD content either. Oh and also there was a tutorial on combo fields. Also utterly forgettable.

Mastering the combat system is not required for like 90% of the game. This game was meant for casual players initially but they made the combat system have too much depth and complexity for a casual game. And also the rewards for mastering it with regards to output too high.

And it is this combination of a player base that's mostly casual with the combat system as it is that ironically means that content has to be dumbed down because the majority of the player base doesn't want to master the combat system so they'll never achieve the damage levels that are envisioned.

[Treacy.4067]

Boons

[Mungrul.9358]

9 hours ago, Rogue.8235 said:

Anyways, I always thought that a stat system that isn't based on items/gear/equipment or trait/skill/talent systems are a great idea.

It's how most traditional RPGs did things in the past. Gear would have bonuses, but they would generally be a lot more sensible than the current state of affairs.

For example, armour would have defensive bonuses, and weapons would have offensive ones. Gear that gave flat stat bonuses was pretty much non-existent.

 

Tying stats to gear is one of the primary tools used in "games-as-a-service", to monopolise the player's time and keep them exposed to monetisation systems.

And in GW2, "The Economy", that which many people have been convinced to hold in the highest regard, relies on balance regularly changing, therefore  forcing players to re-gear or pursue Legendaries, all of which requires utilising the trading system to some degree or another.

And while the majority here will claim it never happens or that they themselves never do it, a LOT of players will choose to bypass the gold grind and simply break out the credit card.

 

Look, I know ArenaNet need to make money to keep the game going. But the way they've gone about it with the trading post and gear system is incredibly seedy, and displays a lack of confidence in their product to stand strong on the basis of its own merits.

 

I suspect the game could support itself solely on the sale of cosmetics instead of the system we've got now, but ArenaNet and NCSoft are too invested and/or scared to try any other form of finance at this point.

 

So we end up with rewards being crap, because the majority of loot must feed back in to the trade system as materials.

We end up with features that should be general quality of life for everyone and baseline game features being ripped out and sold through the gem store instead.

We end up with new expansion features requiring so much material investment that it's guaranteed that a financially significant proportion of the player-base will break out their wallets, all while being dehumanised by the marketing execs who continue to refer to them as "whales".

 

I myself am not immune to this, and have spent an obscene amount on the game, mostly because I now have significant disposable income.

But a lot of the stuff I have bought, I do feel resentment about, and I do feel should be available to everyone as features of the game.

 

There's no coding reason why the ability to change appearance at any time should be restricted.

There's no coding reason permanent bank access shouldn't be available to every account.

There's no coding reason that people should have to pay to utilise gear and build templates, especially when the first game did the latter for free.

There's no coding reason why everyone shouldn't have access to a full compliment of shared inventory slots.

 

The only reason they're limited is so that ArenaNet can make money off of them.

 

Imagine the good will from the community if these features were all available to everyone without having to pay!

Imagine just how generous and innovative GW2 would look when compared to other MMOs!

 

They have features which have similar utility, and which are available to all players, and which other MMOs don't have already, like the ability to deposit materials to the bank from anywhere.

 

If all QoL features like this were available to all players and not just the rich or lucky few, GW2 would stand out even more than it already does, and I think a lot of the rest of the industry would be forced to pay attention.

[Strider.7849]

One of the worst changes to the game is the armorsmith. Totally unnecessary buff that places you at a disadvantage because you forget to activate it (you know, like a month from now when it wears off). It's a random stat boost that is unnecessary, visual clutter on your already cluttered buff bar (I have to shrink my minimap to see if my food is expired or not), and something that will confuse new players as it makes no sense.

Edited December 4, 2022 by Strider.7849

[Astralporing.1957]

On 11/30/2022 at 5:34 PM, Mungrul.9358 said:

My big one is tying stats to gear.

 

And they could have partly remedied this by making all gear stats freely changeable, but instead, they locked this functionality behind legendaries.

If everyone could change stats as easily as with legendaries, we would see a LOT more build variety.

 

But even then, it wouldn't have had the flexibility of the first game's stat system, because stats are confined to combinations.

 

I much prefer having a pool of stats to allocate as I see fit.

Armor and weapons should have been offering only armor value and weapon damage stat. Stats themselves should probably have been tied to your level and specialization lines picked, and to nothing else. Or they could have done away with stats, and have all the calculations be based just on level (yours and gears) and on specializations/traits picked.

[Tails.9372]

The most harmful changes are usually the ones that impact the effectiveness, gameplay and QoL in a negative way. Especially in regards to cases where there was no clear reason for the changes in question and they also lack any official explanation (e.g. the removal of the Ricochet trait on Thief back then when they overhauled the specialisation system or them nuking Invigorating Precision right before the launch of EoD).

[Lysico.4906]

No underwater combat in pvp.   That was fun back in the day

[Zera.9435]

For me the only harmful thing was not giving me permanent Aurene Mode.