Power Creep, The game is too easy [Merged]

[Shiyo.3578]

20 hours ago, Obtena.7952 said:

I would say at this point, if the game isn't appealing to people because too easy, they just need to find game more appropriate for their capabilities. Also, Anet already experimented with massive shifts in difficulty at HoT release. That didn't end well for anyone.

"We'd rather you didn't play our game", yeah I get this sentiment from the devs all the time.

HoT was the most profitable, popular and well liked time of GW2. Weird conclusion to come to with those presented facts.

Edited January 22 by Shiyo.3578

[Linken.6345]

4 hours ago, Shiyo.3578 said:

Snip

HoT was the most profitable, popular and well liked time of GW2. Weird conclusion to come to with those presented facts.

Hahaha not even close at the time but after years if other content its the best openworld we got by far

[Obtena.7952]

6 hours ago, Shiyo.3578 said:

"We'd rather you didn't play our game", yeah I get this sentiment from the devs all the time.

HoT was the most profitable, popular and well liked time of GW2. Weird conclusion to come to with those presented facts.

That's nonsense. Presented facts are based on data/evidence, which I'm sure you have NONE of. 

What's happening here is that you have a beef with how Anet has evolved the game to it's current state. The best part is when someone like me points out that the game is still successful, regardless of how you view it and it's history or your salty feeling about it. So you are wrong. Anet DOES want people to play the game ... and people DO play the game. The way Anet develops the game is inline with the fact they want people to play it. The fact that there are still enough people to enable the game to still be part of a viable business for them after 11 years is proof that your opinions are just nonsense. 

So make no mistake, any decision to not play the game or aren't enjoying it because you don't like something about it ... that's NOT because Anet is engineering it to force you or other players out. It's simply you mistaking the reality that the game can't be everything to everyone for some unreasonable expectation you have that you know better and it's about you. 

Edited January 23 by Obtena.7952

[Sweetbread.3678]

2 hours ago, Obtena.7952 said:

So make no mistake, any decision to not play the game or aren't enjoying it because you don't like something about it ... that's NOT because Anet is engineering it to force you or other players out. It's simply you mistaking the reality that the game can't be everything to everyone for some unreasonable expectation you have that you know better and it's about you. 

Well historically it *has* been about them. The entire point of the thread is that the game has historically been designed in a specific way and balanced to a specific difficulty level for a reason, but now constant cycles of myopic buffing and power creep as expansion selling points have largely invalidated a lot of these things. There is a reason that base game Orr was actually somewhat difficult, there is a reason that HoT was actually somewhat difficult, there is a reason that PoF was actually somewhat difficult; they balanced those expacs with intention. They understood that if your game has no gear treadmill then the only avenue for player improvement is skill expression, and to have skill expression you actually need to have challenging content on occasion. If they had set out to make a mind-numbing faceroll-fest catered solely to people allergic to effort, then you would have a point, but they didn't and it's been abundantly clear that all of the power creep going on isn't out of some grand vision, but because not enough attention is being paid to the consequences of just straight-up doubling the game's average dps in some vain effort to appease the dumdums on the forums that will throw a tantrum if their class doesn't get buffed every single patch. Like I get that you can't seem to enjoy anything if it requires more than a cadaver's level of brain activity and that must be a real burden and all, but maybe you should take your own advice (lol who am I kidding) and realize that maybe it's not all about you?

[Astralporing.1957]

6 hours ago, Sweetbread.3678 said:

Well historically it *has* been about them. The entire point of the thread is that the game has historically been designed in a specific way and balanced to a specific difficulty level for a reason, but now constant cycles of myopic buffing and power creep as expansion selling points have largely invalidated a lot of these things. There is a reason that base game Orr was actually somewhat difficult, there is a reason that HoT was actually somewhat difficult, there is a reason that PoF was actually somewhat difficult; they balanced those expacs with intention. They understood that if your game has no gear treadmill then the only avenue for player improvement is skill expression, and to have skill expression you actually need to have challenging content on occasion. If they had set out to make a mind-numbing faceroll-fest catered solely to people allergic to effort, then you would have a point, but they didn't and it's been abundantly clear that all of the power creep going on isn't out of some grand vision, but because not enough attention is being paid to the consequences of just straight-up doubling the game's average dps in some vain effort to appease the dumdums on the forums that will throw a tantrum if their class doesn't get buffed every single patch. Like I get that you can't seem to enjoy anything if it requires more than a cadaver's level of brain activity and that must be a real burden and all, but maybe you should take your own advice (lol who am I kidding) and realize that maybe it's not all about you?

First Orr nerfs happened withing first year of the game - and they said then that the original Orr difficulty was not intended but a result of a bug instead. Dungeons got nerfed more than once during those first years as well. HoT got nerfed half a year after release, because the difficulty was just too much. There was a reason why PoF was significantly easier than initial HoT release.

If anything, the history of GW2's difficulty balance shows that Anet just can't really balance the game for everyone and keeps tuning it badly over and over again, having to recover from it constantly. There's no such thing as "specific difficulty level" they aim for. They are just balancing at random (often while visibly not understanding their own game systems, btw) and see what sticks. Most things do not.

And the power creep we have now is a byproduct of them trying to push certain playstyle and content (originally, raids) at some point and trying to make it universally apply even where it's a real bad fit (which is most of the game, btw). And, of course, them trying to make new especs better than previous ones in order to sell the next expansion, instead of being just an option enhancement like they were supposed to be based on the original statement (notice: of all especs only one has ever fulfilled that original design goal, and that was Druid - before they decided to make it a dps class as well).

[Obtena.7952]

9 hours ago, Sweetbread.3678 said:

but maybe you should take your own advice (lol who am I kidding) and realize that maybe it's not all about you?

This makes no sense. Never and nowhere have I made this game 'about me', including the content you quoted.

If what you say about the whole point of the thread is that there is some historical baseline of difficulty that Anet was maintaining then POOF, power creep ... then that whole point also makes no sense. If there is one thing Anet hasn't done in the history of this game, it's target and maintain some consistent difficulty level with released content. 

Whatever powercreep the OP thinks is due to SoTo ... it was ALWAYS there. It started almost 10 years ago. They are a little slow on recognizing it. 

 

 

Edited January 23 by Obtena.7952