Thoughts on GW2 and how ArenaNet handled it

[Cirth.1543]

I'd like to know everyone's thoughts on this. I for one am not that happy about it, little background I've played every gw1 "expansions" but Eye of the North and loved gw1.  I'll start off with the first few things I've noticed in the first year(s) of playing back when gw2 came out.  One of the many things I hated was the game shouldn't really be called Guild Wars it should be called World vs World wars or something else.  Having it where you can join multiple guilds and just represent only 1 of them at a time is idiotic.  Which turned into small guilds being consumed by medium guilds and medium guilds being consumed by large guilds.
Now I love the new professions like Guardian and Engineer but give me my Monk, Ritualist, Dervish, Paragon and Assassin (I'm semi counting this even though Thief is somewhat like the Assassin profession from gw1). To me it's a bit of a slap in the face seeing the outfits for those professions in gw2.  Another one would be crafting you can easily switch between crafting, and you won't lose any progress in them this has made pretty much any crafting mute and semi worthless, since everyone can make that item by buying or gathering mats.
 

I didn't get heart of the thorns expansion when it came out, I got it around the time path of fire came out.  I heard that ArenaNet really dropped the ball on how to explain the revenant profession into the lore or "past" events when leveling a newly made revenant character (how do you explain the revenant profession that wasn't known during vanilla gw2 until Rytlock popped out in expansion).  Then it "seemed" (only putting " " just in case) they learned their lesson and never to introduce a new profession or race due to the backlash they got from the revenant profession.  The whole elite system was their "easy" loophole for introducing "new professions" because that's how they were implied when they were introduced especially since Rytlock was a warrior then turned revenant.   One thing that was like them dangling a carrot was their way of seeming to imply they are going to add a new race to play in the near future.  If I remember correctly there was a few story/main missions where you help a tengu out and they go on to say they will try to make the tengu see hiding behind the walls won't do them any good. To me this seemed like an opportunity that they might be a playable race in the future.

Another thing that makes me scratch my head and please correct me if I'm wrong is that the gods have left Tyria in search for a new world set it up so it can accommodate all races (or their faithful) when they come back to "transport" them to this new world since the gods knew about the elder dragons and they couldn't do anything about it. With that said the threat of the elder dragons is gone why haven't they come back and so on (maybe a new expansion will lead us to a new world which both worlds are connected?).  Since with the release of Secrets of the Obscurity couldn't ArenaNet have introduced a new playable race(s) like the dwarves.  How could they go about doing this is having it be similar to the pre-searing in gw1 where it's instanced off from the rest of the game until you do a certain mission make it, so your character starts out a level or few below 80 (taking a page from WoW with the deathknight) and just learn about the race and so on then join the rest of the world or have it go the future/present to where the commander is tracking unusual people in mass in a certain map at the start of the story.
From there have the commander show up and if you're the new race the commander dies you take his spot and vice versa to keep the "lore/story" intact.  The new expansion Janthir Wilds could've added the Kodan as the new race and do something similar like I mentioned for what they could've done for Secrets of the Obscurity.  With that said couldn't they have added new professions the same way as well.

One big thing I've wanted to see is to actually see new parts of the map that wasn't in gw1 sure Janthir Wilds does same with Secrets of the Obscurity but that is such a small part compared to the other expansions sure the other expansion are easily since a good majority of those maps were in gw1.  My problem is like the Secrets of the Obscurity only had really 3 new maps and a new main city/hub, so far it seems Janthir Wilds might get 3 maybe 4 if we're lucky maps and my guess is no main city/hub since we get the homestead.  Let's compare it to the past expansions, End of Dragons has 5 new maps and 1 main city/hub, Path of Fire 5 new maps, Heart of Thorns 4 new maps. By what I mean by main city/hub is a place with bank, crafting, merchants, tp, the whole 9 yards like in Lion's Arch or other main racial city (besides Divinity's Reach which is weird why there isn't a tp there unless you have a pass ticket thing which is stupid).  As you can see I didn't include living worlds or the Icebrood Saga into it and if I did it would bring both Heart of Thorns and Path of fire maps up by a good number.

Expand it a bit more by either making the expansion longer or adding living worlds. Plus there is still a lot of places on the map that they could add, north west of maguuma wastes, the far north of far shiverpeaks, could expand on the deldrimor front and blood legion homelands, east of blood legion homeland and blazeridge mountain, dzalana as well east and north of it scavenger's causeway, why isn't drowned kaineng not explorable and how about anything south of cantha like anything around kirin peak plus you can tell there is most likely a large continent west of isle of istan or north west of cantha or south west ring of fire.  All of those places are just blank hoping to be assigned to an instance and name.

Plus with the talks of maybe there being a gw3 in the future may it be near or far who knows but still right now I'm a little worry if I'd return to play gw3, I like gw2 but it never did make me stay for long periods of time like gw1 did.  I bought Janthir the start of September and I'm at the point of maybe putting it on that dusty shelf and wait for the next half of Janthir.  One other thing I think they need to bring back that special reward at the end of story to make you want to play it with all your characters.  I remember I played all my characters to defeat Shiro in gw1 to get that reward and either keep it or sell it and you can only get it once per character.  It made you want to play through it with other characters which was interesting I even brought over the other professions to get ascended and do the vanilla story of gw1.  Also, I never did come back for the other half of Secrets of the Obscurity until maybe a week before I bought Janthir and finished that story line before buying Janthir.

Oh, before I forget a thing that I'm a bit surprised ArenaNet didn't do was make skyscale skins of the elder dragons (counting Glint as well) on top of the different visuals of Aurene. Let's be honest how many of us would want their skyscale to look like one of the elder dragons or of Aurene (visually not like the kitten of the aurene prismatic skins which lets be honest looks nothing like aurene looks more like a knockoff).  This also might be a stretch, but it would give your skyscale be more unique is if you can change the fire ball attack to like an ice, poison, lightning or earth ball attack. That isn't too much of a left down but something I always thought would've been a nice to have.

So what are some of your thoughts on how ArenaNet handled GW2 may it be good or bad and maybe what you hope for in the future, may it be near or far into the future of what you want to see in GW2.

[QueenKeriti.5176]

Essay Wars 2

[Farohna.6247]

The guild in the game title isn't about YOUR guilds that you run around with.  

I have no interest in GW1, as I did not play it, and do not really care about player nostalgia.  Yay for those who did and so what if there are outfits that relate to it?  

Skyscales are skyscales.  Not elder dragons.  No, is rather see unique skins for them, not Kralky hovering over me waiting on a meta.  Flap, flap, flap.  

We all look forward to new maps and seeing what's in the hidden areas.  

Don't hold your breath on GW3.  

I hope for a continuing positive and enjoyable gameplay in GW2, and not worrying about 12 years ago or what happens in 12 more years.  Suggestions are great, there's an entire thread of them even.  

This was very, very long winded to say you liked GW1 a lot and want some things in GW2.  Switch to decaf.  

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

just so you know, it's already been confirmed that janthir wilds will have five maps (four open world maps, and a convergence and raid which share the same map). i agree with alot of your points, especially how shallow the game feels compared to the original guild wars.

 

hopefully arenanet will go back and play their own games a bit at some point!

Edited September 27 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Dean Calaway.9718]

8 minutes ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

just so you know, it's already been confirmed that janthir wilds will have five maps (four open world maps, and a convergence and raid which share the same map).

You mean the 3rd map was split into 2 maps so they can claim 4.

Nayos might have been milked over 3 releases 1/3 at a time but at least if you play it today it's all there. Not sure splitting the last map of Janthir into 2, each the size of Lake Doric, is gonna improve gameplay, the loading screen in between them will surely be annoying, and then counting the boss arena one as the 5th... ?

We never counted the Ruined City of Arah as a map, or any of the other dungeons, or Raids for that matter.

[Randulf.7614]

The world felt smaller despite its expansive size (I get why and ultimately it worked in its favour) and they focused too much on Aurene and humanising the Elder Dragons instead of telling stories like they are now, with the Dragons in the background being a disruptive force of nature.

The latter being my only real sore point alongide the lack of settling on a direction for the game with its Living World presentation. I think they tried to deliver too much on arbitrary deadlines and quality became inconsistent

GW1 was great, I loved playing it, but I never liked it's bloated skill system and it was looking and feeling tired by the end.  Whilst i get some nostalgic pangs for the starter areas of Elona and Old Ascalon, I don't miss it. 12 years in GW2 and I still enjoy it very much and hope it goes on forever. I'd miss it heavily if it was gone

It's all moot though. I've very much accepted how things are and how things were. It makes everything more enjoyable

[EDOTDOT.9265]

I would give this game and company a 5.5/10.  There's just too many bugs, balance issues and bad decisions being made for me to think of anything else besides them being a mid developer giving a mid effort.  Guild Wars 3 should definitely NOT even be a thought until this game gets the massive amount of polish that it desperately needs.

[Tiamat.8254]

You applying for a job as a writer at anet? Congrats! You got the job! Just remember not to add those skip options!

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

2 hours ago, Dean Calaway.9718 said:

You mean the 3rd map was split into 2 maps so they can claim 4.

Nayos might have been milked over 3 releases 1/3 at a time but at least if you play it today it's all there. Not sure splitting the last map of Janthir into 2, each the size of Lake Doric, is gonna improve gameplay, the loading screen in between them will surely be annoying, and then counting the boss arena one as the 5th... ?

We never counted the Ruined City of Arah as a map, or any of the other dungeons, or Raids for that matter.

it's a mini expansion, so i think you're not going to get the same kind of content you get for an expansion that takes 3-4 years to develop.

 

unfortunately, time is a hard limit on what you can do, you can't just magically stuff more work into less time. if you look at living world season 3 you will see what kind of maps can actually be made in just a year and a half or so, except for draconis mons which was huge for some reason.

 

i wouldn't even count the maps from path of fire and living world season 4 as being bigger as they have alot of empty space; they're more "decompressed".

Edited September 27 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Ashen.2907]

I preferred the one Guild per player system of GW1 as well but the alliance system there essentially allowed participation in multiple guilds anyway so not much of a difference. As guild leader of the lead guild in a full alliance (with a waiting list for guilds to join) I saw as many small guilds gobbled up by larger in GW1 as I have here.  Not really idiotic so much as different. Different doesn't mean bad or idiotic.

There is a lot about GW1 that I preferred over GW2 but it's been twelve years, time to accept that we are playing a game "inspired by" GW1 not an extension of that game. 

Edited September 28 by Ashen.2907

[Xoanvagner.4573]

8 hours ago, Cirth.1543 said:

Divinity's Reach which is weird why there isn't a tp there unless you have a pass ticket thing which is stupid

There is a tp to the west of the bank in divinity reach

[eXistence.3876]

6 hours ago, EDOTDOT.9265 said:

I would give this game and company a 5.5/10.  There's just too many bugs, balance issues and bad decisions being made for me to think of anything else besides them being a mid developer giving a mid effort.  Guild Wars 3 should definitely NOT even be a thought until this game gets the massive amount of polish that it desperately needs.

*Game redefines MMO genre, has best in class combat/gameplay, and becomes new gold standard*...I GIVE IT A 5/10 GAME IS MEHHHHH

haha ppl are funny sometimes 🤣

[Dean Calaway.9718]

9 hours ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

it's a mini expansion

A front loaded mini expansion with 2 big maps on release day, then one two small maps a year later.

And what was SotO? Another front loaded expansion with 2 big maps on release plus the tower then one more released a year later.

There's a pattern emerging here.

9 hours ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

i wouldn't even count the maps from path of fire and living world season 4 as being bigger as they have alot of empty space; they're more "decompressed".

Thank mounts for that, when you can run faster and jump higher you've effectively made every map smaller and to compensate maps have to be stretched thinner so they have the footprint to accommodate mounts.

Execpt when you can't even stretch them, like the last maps of Janthir allegedly, then you get the worse of both worlds just because people can't help themselves with their demands for features without thinking of the consequences.

[Smol.7985]

i'm not reading this wall of text sry lil bro