Issues with GW2

[Jim Hunter]

My theory is that the world isn't perfect and some people want to complain every time it isn't. Sorry but the level of product that GW2 promised and the level of product they released is better than most games I have played. It isn't perfect but it isn't something worth complaining about either. Some players are not going to be happy no matter what given the reality of the gaming world where they can't always fulfill everything they want to.

I know games are going to have bugs and it takes time to sort them out. I understand certain things have to be changed because they have unexpected problems (like the original trait system). I stuck with the game through all of this thinking they have the best intentions and it will be worked out.

What I don't accept is a complete reversal of 1 of the few core principals A-Net has been preaching for years. What really bothers me is how shady they have been about releasing the information and how they attempt to hide peoples disapproval by deleting posts and banning people from their forums.

I started playing GW1 in 2005 and kept playing for many years. I have been waiting for GW2 for 5 years. A-Net was one of the few companies I had a little bit of faith in. I have already spent way more than the $60 dollars needed to play this game because I wanted to support the company and keep the game going.

Until they get rid of the gear grind I will not give them another dime. At this point the only thing that might keep me playing is the fact that I brought a lot of old friends into the game and they are hooked on the PvP and I don't want to abandon them.

Either way I doubt I will be logging on for awhile and I hope that anyone that is also against this drastic change in their philosophy takes a good long break so that it might catch A-Nets attention and get them to sort themselves out.

[Centaur]

People who have been on this forum longer, know that I am not usually the complaining type. Quite the opposite... I have been on ArenaNet's side, defending them and waiting patiently, telling people to just give them time, even though most of the things I mentioned in the OP have been bothering me ever since we found out about them at launch. And, as Fey pointed out, a lot of stuff has been released since then, so it's clear that they are working hard. But the more is released, the further they are moving away from most the things in the OP, and the more this game turns into the one thing we were told that it would never be. So this isn't just about one single thing that bothers me... it's that the total number of things keeps accumulating. And this last patch was just the splash that spilled that bucket.
It's a question about ArenaNet's priorities and the direction that they want this game to go in. And until that direction once more turns this game into something that I consider 'fun' to return to, this game will stay on the shelf for me.

[Vayne]

I know games are going to have bugs and it takes time to sort them out. I understand certain things have to be changed because they have unexpected problems (like the original trait system). I stuck with the game through all of this thinking they have the best intentions and it will be worked out.

What I don't accept is a complete reversal of 1 of the few core principals A-Net has been preaching for years. What really bothers me is how shady they have been about releasing the information and how they attempt to hide peoples disapproval by deleting posts and banning people from their forums.

I started playing GW1 in 2005 and kept playing for many years. I have been waiting for GW2 for 5 years. A-Net was one of the few companies I had a little bit of faith in. I have already spent way more than the $60 dollars needed to play this game because I wanted to support the company and keep the game going.

Until they get rid of the gear grind I will not give them another dime. At this point the only thing that might keep me playing is the fact that I brought a lot of old friends into the game and they are hooked on the PvP and I don't want to abandon them.

Either way I doubt I will be logging on for awhile and I hope that anyone that is also against this drastic change in their philosophy takes a good long break so that it might catch A-Nets attention and get them to sort themselves out.

Saying something is gear grind, doesn't make it so. And for every person who stops giving them a dime, ten more will give them some money.

This is NOT gear grind, certainly not as defined by WoW or Rift or a dozen other games. Could it possibly, conceivably down the road become gear grind? Sure.

But you know, it's also possible that Anet is just filling in something that a bunch of people found missing and that'll pretty much be the end of it. The differences in the gear is so small, that it would come into play such a small percentage of the time, that it's all but meaningless.

Testified to by the fact that I was pretty damned useful in the new dungeon today with no gear on at all.

[Fey]

Saying something is gear grind, doesn't make it so. And for every person who stops giving them a dime, ten more will give them some money.

This is NOT gear grind, certainly not as defined by WoW or Rift or a dozen other games. Could it possibly, conceivably down the road become gear grind? Sure.

You say that, but then I see these new shiny exotic back pieces that require 1,300+ tokens. That's like an entire set of explorable dungeon gear.

[Vayne]

You say that, but then I see these new shiny exotic back pieces that require 1,300+ tokens. That's like an entire set of explorable dungeon gear.

And I say that having the exotic gear I have will allow me to do pretty much every dungeon in the game for now and the foreseeable future. You yourself know well how WoW was and how not having specific gear locked you out of content. In Rift, even the dungeon finder says you need X-focus or you can't queue for this dungeon. This isn't that.

Will you be disadvantaged in the game if you don't grind? That's the question. And how much disadvantaged. The WvW angle is the only one I see as valid, but right now I'm not running around in all exotics there either and I do quite well. So what's really the issue here?

Someone has something better than me, and though it makes no difference, it bothers me. That's the issue.

When it stops me from being able to do dungeons, I'll call it gear grind. Right now I see something completely different. I don't have to and won't be grinding for that gear, and it's not going to lock me out of content I want to do.

[Lagger]

Saying something is gear grind, doesn't make it so. And for every person who stops giving them a dime, ten more will give them some money.

Now that's what I should've said whenever someone said WoW was nothing but a gear grind lol

[Vayne]

Now that's what I should've said whenever someone said WoW was nothing but a gear grind lol

Yep, except that in WoW, if I'm not mistaken, content is gated by what gear you have. It certainly was in Rift. That's not the case in Guild Wars 2. Even if you're max level in just greens, you can run around Orr, play WvW and do dungeons. The difference having exotics and not having it, just isn't that big a difference. People throw numbers around and say it is, but the content is still viable.

[Peaveywolf]

Yep, except that in WoW, if I'm not mistaken, content is gated by what gear you have. It certainly was in Rift. That's not the case in Guild Wars 2. Even if you're max level in just greens, you can run around Orr, play WvW and do dungeons. The difference having exotics and not having it, just isn't that big a difference. People throw numbers around and say it is, but the content is still viable.

Completely agree. The new stuff isn't a necessity, its just choice. And a nice one of you want something midway between legendary and exotic. You can buy exotics very cheap now. I like the idea that they will add new armour now and again. You don't need it but its nice for a change.

[Jim Hunter]

Except for the fact you need the new armor to negate agony meaning it will absolutely be necessary. Also the fact that they are now embracing vertical progression rather than just cosmetic.

After only a couple months they have completely switched their stance and started making a game with a play style they have been bashing for years. You say the new armor was to bridge the gap but there wasn't supposed to be a gap in stats, I'm sure that was introduced just to give them something of an excuse.

People say they needed this to survive. Really? What did they try first? Did they introduce a new area, new dungeons, a new PvP map, give free trials to see if that might draw more people to the game before adding new tiers of gear? No they did it at the same time.

What do you really think will get more people interested, all this new content and the crack at a free trial or the opportunity to spend endless hours grinding for gear that is likely to become outdated?

[Vayne]

Except for the fact you need the new armor to negate agony meaning it will absolutely be necessary. Also the fact that they are now embracing vertical progression rather than just cosmetic.

After only a couple months they have completely switched their stance and started making a game with a play style they have been bashing for years. You say the new armor was to bridge the gap but there wasn't supposed to be a gap in stats, I'm sure that was introduced just to give them something of an excuse.

People say they needed this to survive. Really? What did they try first? Did they introduce a new area, new dungeons, a new PvP map, give free trials to see if that might draw more people to the game before adding new tiers of gear? No they did it at the same time.

What do you really think will get more people interested, all this new content and the crack at a free trial or the opportunity to spend endless hours grinding for gear that is likely to become outdated?

But where have you seen agony? From what I understand, the only place you'll have to deal with agony is in the Factals of the Mists, the very same place you get the gear. So if you're interested, you run Fractals, get the gear and it's fine. If you're not interested, you don't worry about it.

They didn't say they were putting agony all over the world in different dungeons, and in open world combat. And if they do, I'm quite confident there'll be more and easier ways to get the gear.

The fact is, I've yet to so anything that causes agony so no one can tell what this portends. There are good ways and bad ways to institute something like this. Rift did it the bad way, in much the same way gathering was bad, and competiting for kills in quests. Anet is looking at a different experience.

I don't see any reason why they'd bring out an item you can only get in one place that you have to have to play the game. That makes no sense. They haven't said you need this item for the open world or for normal dungeons. So why make assumptions?