Yeah TERA looks amazing, I just think some of the animations are more rigid than those of GW2, I wouldn't disagree that the textures are probably more detailed however. Archeage is shaping up great, but I want to see it when it's near release before I judge it.
That is because ANT uses a motion suit
But I agree as well, TERA do look amazing. But if looks were what sold MMOs then AoC and FF XIV would be the huge MMOs while Wow would be one of the smallest.
TERA have done badly both in Korea and Japan (even though the overprice they take there probably explains a lot about the last) so the question is if it is fun enough to sell well over here.
AA is another sandbox from a new developer noone ever heard of before, until I tried it I wont get any hopes up for it.
No, those games are not any real competitors to GW2. There is one game that is though, Undead labs class 4. It is made by the brain behind GW2 and have a huge budget and a great team. But it is likely to take a few more years before it releases.
Yeah, I saw you mention Class 4 yesterday, I'm intrigued but the site you linked doesn't give too much info that I could find. Will have to wait and see, but a zombie apocalypse MMO headed by a GW2 staffer does sound very interesting.
Yeah, people who hae a problem with the game saying it looks lifeless need to ask themselves what MMO looks more lush and graphically appealing while allowing people on a wide range of PC's to even play it. Do they think WoW looks better? TOR? The only other MMO I've seen come close to the graphical quality of GW2 (and even then, that's on these low-res Youtubes) is Tera.
Yeah, it's nice to see the little touches in GW2, like how a players spells and movements will move the foilage. It's also not everyday that in a themepark MMO random large mobs start killing each other. I know Rift allows it (thanks to their invasions), but what about in other themeparks like SW:TOR?
Yeah TERA looks amazing, I just think some of the animations are more rigid than those of GW2, I wouldn't disagree that the textures are probably more detailed however. Archeage is shaping up great, but I want to see it when it's near release before I judge it.
That is because ANT uses a motion suit
But I agree as well, TERA do look amazing. But if looks were what sold MMOs then AoC and FF XIV would be the huge MMOs while Wow would be one of the smallest.
TERA have done badly both in Korea and Japan (even though the overprice they take there probably explains a lot about the last) so the question is if it is fun enough to sell well over here.
AA is another sandbox from a new developer noone ever heard of before, until I tried it I wont get any hopes up for it.
No, those games are not any real competitors to GW2. There is one game that is though, Undead labs class 4. It is made by the brain behind GW2 and have a huge budget and a great team. But it is likely to take a few more years before it releases.
Yeah, I saw you mention Class 4 yesterday, I'm intrigued but the site you linked doesn't give too much info that I could find. Will have to wait and see, but a zombie apocalypse MMO headed by a GW2 staffer does sound very interesting.
That game is intended to be console only. So, no thanks.
I of course know that GW2 isn't GW1 and I would expect the engine to be way more advanced. It almost has to be, I think the engine in the original Doom in the early 1990's was more advanced
My point is that the only thing I can judge GW2 by is 1) GW1, 2) promises, 3) some youtube videos, and 4) forum hype
1) GW1 I found to be horrendous for the many reasons I listed. It really does not give me confidence in arenanet as savy developers. To go back to my Doom reference earlier Id Software developing the original Doom was just a two guys and they showed much more skill than arenanet did for GW1
2) Promises. Seriously, do I need to explain why I don't believe these given the history of MMOs?
3) Youtube videos. I'm not really seeing much that I find impressive there. Some of the characters have way too cutesy look for me. I could care less (or at least I can deal with it) if the PVP is good, but I'm not really digging the vibe I'm watching.
4) Forum hype. That is what I'm trying to understand (along with the OP) as I just don't get the hype given 1-3 above.
Gainesvilleg, you are tilting at windmills here, because from your responses you are not looking for the same features the people who are excited for GW2 are looking for. If you feel the look of GW2 is too cutesy for your liking (which implies you want something very gritty, possibly grimdark, Warhammer-like, or dark low fantasy) then the aesthetic of GW2 will not ever appeal to you the way it does someone for whom a gritty/hyper-realistic look is not as important.
Trying to understand the hype from a perspective of someone who likes a different genre or gameplay feel entirely is an exercise in futility. If the things that ArenaNet is doing are not important to you, you will never get what makes other people excited about it, and we can't make you care about the things that are important to us (just as you will not make me prefer a gritty/hyper-realistic/grimdark setting in an MMO).
The art style just looks like a generic Asian MMO to me and I just cannot get excited for how it looks. I have no idea how the world is built, I've played Guild Wars but that wasn't an MMO but I've heard this time round it is a proper world? I dunno but from everything I've seen it looks like it does the AoC thing where everything is in the skybox and the actual world is pretty enclosed and linear.
It just looks like a very generic MMO, the art doesn't stick out at all and I have no interest in the story because the story of the first one was so bad and generic. Can some one please explain to me why people are getting so excited for it? Just looks like another Asian MMO like how everyone was excited for Aion or something and yet it just looked generic again.
I have to laugh at your post:
Asian MMO
Generic
It's perfectly fine if you dislike a game. We all do. But please, do some <-- ATLEAST some research.
Yeah, I saw you mention Class 4 yesterday, I'm intrigued but the site you linked doesn't give too much info that I could find. Will have to wait and see, but a zombie apocalypse MMO headed by a GW2 staffer does sound very interesting.
That game is intended to be console only. So, no thanks.
That is true but on the other hand is it really made for a console and not the ported PC game every other console MMO is. Class 4 ain't based on Meridian 59 or UO as almost all other MMOs ever made is, it uses a unique mechanic which never have been seen before.
I of course know that GW2 isn't GW1 and I would expect the engine to be way more advanced. It almost has to be, I think the engine in the original Doom in the early 1990's was more advanced
My point is that the only thing I can judge GW2 by is 1) GW1, 2) promises, 3) some youtube videos, and 4) forum hype
1) GW1 I found to be horrendous for the many reasons I listed. It really does not give me confidence in arenanet as savy developers. To go back to my Doom reference earlier Id Software developing the original Doom was just a two guys and they showed much more skill than arenanet did for GW1
2) Promises. Seriously, do I need to explain why I don't believe these given the history of MMOs?
3) Youtube videos. I'm not really seeing much that I find impressive there. Some of the characters have way too cutesy look for me. I could care less (or at least I can deal with it) if the PVP is good, but I'm not really digging the vibe I'm watching.
4) Forum hype. That is what I'm trying to understand (along with the OP) as I just don't get the hype given 1-3 above.
Gainesvilleg, you are tilting at windmills here, because from your responses you are not looking for the same features the people who are excited for GW2 are looking for. If you feel the look of GW2 is too cutesy for your liking (which implies you want something very gritty, possibly grimdark, Warhammer-like, or dark low fantasy) then the aesthetic of GW2 will not ever appeal to you the way it does someone for whom a gritty/hyper-realistic look is not as important.
Trying to understand the hype from a perspective of someone who likes a different genre or gameplay feel entirely is an exercise in futility. If the things that ArenaNet is doing are not important to you, you will never get what makes other people excited about it, and we can't make you care about the things that are important to us (just as you will not make me prefer a gritty/hyper-realistic/grimdark setting in an MMO).
Like I said the cutesy graphics are not a gamebreaker. Even no graphics is not a gamebreaker (I love roguelikes for instance). But I also listed in a previous post why I am suspicious of the dynamic events, no holy-trinity, and no subscription fee for GW2 which I thought were the main reasons for the hype.
So, other than dynamic events, no holy trinity, and no subscription fee, what am I missing that is generating all this hype?
I'm really not a troll as, like I said, I will be buying and playing GW2 despite my doubts. Maybe posting doubts before a release is sort of therapy for me as I pretty much always buy into the hype eventually LOL.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
I love watching all the gw2 fan boys getting all angry that people talk bad about a game they want to play guess karma for all the trash they fling at tor has come back to them. Just a thought for all you generic wars 2 fans.
Yeah It's almost as fun as watching someone going into another forum and giving them crap about going into another forum while making broad generalizing statements about the fan base for acting exactly like their acting.
Man, I tell almost as fun.
To be honest most people don't really go into forums per se, they respond to posts they see that look interesting on the scroller on the home page.
For instance I can go to the Rift forums and post SWTOR stinks or GW2 stinks and attract all the SWTOR/GW2 posters just because the title will scroll through the home page...
I really hate to start a pissing contest with you because you appear to enjoy constantly moving the target.
By clicking the link, you are going into the forum so you really do go to the forum. Otherwise you wouldn't be here.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Whether the poster views this forum as GW2 forum or not doesn't matter, the fact is it is a GW2 forum.
As for posting "pro-GW2 propaganda in and anti-GW2 thread", the original poster in asking for it. If you ask me what time it is and I feel like responding, i don't talk about what I ate for breakfast. I answer your question if I intend to help you. You can choose to believe me or not, either way I am just answering your question.
Ha not trying to do that in terms of moving the target (just a bit hyper tonight I guess), but I rarely choose to go to a particular forum I just click on a post scrolling by with an interesting title. For instance you can say "Hey why post negative GW2 stuff in a GW2 forum" but that assumes the posters here really view it as a GW2 forum. What it is for most of us is simply a thread with the title "Everyone is raving about GW2, yet I don't see it" which makes this an anti-GW2 thread. So I would say why are you posting your pro-GW2 propaganda in an anti-GW2 thread LOL.
But really I just enjoy debate, not being a troll but I guess depending how sensitive one is debating and trolling are the same thing. I will be buying and playing GW2 and it will ultimately be judged on how good it is, not hype and assumptions...
I wouldn't consider you a troll. Like you, I am an older gamer so I have dealt with the "Why?" tactic many times before.
The weakness in your argument are the facts and/or reality.
Whether the poster views this forum as GW2 forum or not doesn't matter, the fact is it is a GW2 forum.
As for posting "pro-GW2 propaganda in and anti-GW2 thread", the original poster in asking for it. If you ask me what time it is and I feel like responding, i don't talk about what I ate for breakfast. I answer your question if I intend to help you. You can choose to believe me or not, either way I am just answering your question.
The OP chose to go to the GW2 forum, I agree with that. The responders, at least most of them (me for one), are merely responding to the thread not posting to the forum directly.
But the overarching fact is that prior to release a games hype is mostly speculation not facts. I am usually pretty pessimistic these days in general (fool me once... etc) but will always try a game especially when the hype/reviews remain positive through release. I think my pessimism about GW2 is valid just as my pessimism about many other games is valid. But every once in a while a game lives up to the hype or even surpasses it in some way, and despite my current negativity about GW2 nothing would make me happier than it actually being a ground breaking game.
I actually was pleasantly surprised by how SWTOR plays (PVE at least). I personally don't think having an actual story is a trivial thing for an RPG and shouldn't be dismissed so lightly. It really is more advanced than just cut scenes which is what most who haven't played it seem to think.
GW2 I'm crossing my fingers, but I don't hide the fact that I am highly skeptical at this point...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind" 1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN 2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
Like I said the cutesy graphics are not a gamebreaker. Even no graphics is not a gamebreaker (I love roguelikes for instance). But I also listed in a previous post why I am suspicious of the dynamic events, no holy-trinity, and no subscription fee for GW2 which I thought were the main reasons for the hype.
So, other than dynamic events, no holy trinity, and no subscription fee, what am I missing that is generating all this hype?
I'm really not a troll as, like I said, I will be buying and playing GW2 despite my doubts. Maybe posting doubts before a release is sort of therapy for me as I pretty much always buy into the hype eventually LOL.
One thing I always go back to is this quote from Colin Johanson (their lead content designer) here on mmorpg.com
...all the information we release, we try to make sure that what we’re talking about is in the game, it’s working, and it does the things that we want it to do before we come out and we talk about it. I think this day and age MMO gamers have been made sort of jaded by MMO developers, where they hear all these great things that people want to do, and for whatever reason, oftentimes they don’t have time to do all of it. The things that people say they’re going to do, they don’t end up being able to do as well as they wanted to, or they don’t end up being able to do at all, and we don’t want to be the kind of company that does that.
I know technically this is just another promise, but is shows they're aware of the history of games. Look at the demos they've done. Other games, you can't even find any footage of the game at all before release. With GW2, there's mountains of demo footage. And it's not just closed off either. You can see people just running around town for 20 minutes, or doing as much as they can of the personal story. We haven't seen everything, but we've seen 5 zones, a PVP battleground, underwater...we haven't seen a dungeon, but we've heard about it through journalists. I feel like if ArenaNet (or NCSoft) was going to screw up this game, it would have already been out for a year.
Btw, I do encourage people to be skeptical. I'm not seeing red flags, but we won't know for certain until we have the game in hand. I'm glad you're going to try it out despite your doubts.
Anyway, why I'm hyped... I talk more and more about the vision I see ArenaNet have for it. I don't look at this game like it's a collection of random features. I think they have goals. One thing is to make the game more social than previous games which tend to be isolating in the open world. DEs, being communal, help with that a lot, but it goes way beyond that. They're trying to make the game as griefless as possible. Everyone is one faction because they don't want to divide up the playerbase. The game automentors you down when you do lower level content, not just to prevent griefing, but also so you can play with your friends regardless of level. You can teleport to any other major city right after the tutorial so you can play with friends immediately regardless of race. There's cross profession combos and all classes can rez so that people can help and support each other even if ungrouped. Everyone gets a hit at every gathering node in order to prevent griefing. Everybody has every gathering profession so that you don't have to feel like you're holding anybody else up/waiting for them. There's 30+ minigames in cities because they wanted the cities to be more social. Any 5 people can do a dungeon so you don't have to turn friends away because you need a certain class.
I could go on too, how it's not just getting rid of the holy trinity but wanting combat in general to be more active, and all the bullet points that would support that. Or giving people a story, or making underwater a big part of the game, or the things they're doing with PVP.
It's not just big things, it's little things. Like having your mail delivered to you with a carrier pigeon or making the underwater weeds separate as you go through them. I just think they're taking their time and making a great game. Not a game for everybody (plenty of valid reasons why someone might not like it), but just an innovative, quality, polished product at a fair price (B2P). By all means, have doubts, be skeptical, but we should keep an open mind that a company might finally "do it right" when it comes to making a AAA MMO.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it."-Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
Like I said the cutesy graphics are not a gamebreaker. Even no graphics is not a gamebreaker (I love roguelikes for instance). But I also listed in a previous post why I am suspicious of the dynamic events, no holy-trinity, and no subscription fee for GW2 which I thought were the main reasons for the hype.
So, other than dynamic events, no holy trinity, and no subscription fee, what am I missing that is generating all this hype?
I'm really not a troll as, like I said, I will be buying and playing GW2 despite my doubts. Maybe posting doubts before a release is sort of therapy for me as I pretty much always buy into the hype eventually LOL.
Okay, off the top of my head, in no particular order, these are the features that appeal to me in GW2 (and which appear in no other MMO in their entirety):
* a graphical style that appeals to me
* no holy trinity
* dynamic events (not merely the mechanic of the appearance of random events, but the jettisoning of "required" quest mobs, quest chains that must be shared step-by-step or repeated in order to participate on the same level as others, etc.)
* level-scaling (jettisoning the problem of outleveling friends/gaming partners, which is a very real problem for me and my gaming circle)
* branching personal storyline (with objectives and choices that can be shared, and with credit/xp granted for helping someone else with their personal storyline)
* no subscription fee
* phased harvesting nodes (no more node stealing/competition)
* flat leveling curve
* active combat (I never want to play another game where I can't dodge an incoming fireball again)
* teleportation via waypoints (no more "meet you in half an hour" when I only have half an hour to play)
* highly varied character creation
* no endless/exponential gear grind
* underwater combat that makes sense (finally a game acknowledges that fireballs and bows don't work underwater)
Each of the above are features I have pined for while playing other games. Whether or not you believe ANet are blowing smoke up our behinds, NO other game dev has claimed all of the above features. I've also had the opportunity to play the GW2 demo on two occasions, and while anything can change between now and launch, I have seen many of these features in play, or have seen them in play in GW1 so ANet's reputation speaks for itself for me.
That is why it doesn't matter to me what nifty features SWTOR or TSW or ArcheAge has to offer. I'm not looking for something merely "different" from WoW. I'm looking for the list above, and more, and that is why GW2 stands out for me.
Edit: And I don't know why I bother when cali59 has it all nicely wrapped up . But these are my thoughts FWIW.
Good posts. I don't think anyone's being defensive, they're just correcting a certain poster's obvious dissatisfaction with a game they have not played and continue to base on ANet's first game (developed at least 100 years ago), and correcting someone's misconceptions at this stage without the ability to say well play the game and see, is frustrating, though Cali keeps trucking like a champ with solid points like the amount of demo footage and demo availability that ANet has produced. People are loving the game so far. If you don't, there's always something else to play. It's not like the 80's where the most obvious choices were Nintendo or Sega.
Comments
Yeah, I saw you mention Class 4 yesterday, I'm intrigued but the site you linked doesn't give too much info that I could find. Will have to wait and see, but a zombie apocalypse MMO headed by a GW2 staffer does sound very interesting.
Yeah, it's nice to see the little touches in GW2, like how a players spells and movements will move the foilage. It's also not everyday that in a themepark MMO random large mobs start killing each other. I know Rift allows it (thanks to their invasions), but what about in other themeparks like SW:TOR?
That game is intended to be console only. So, no thanks.
TERA is definitely graphically superiour to Guild Wars 2. However some people may not be too fond of the artstyle and character designs. XD
Gainesvilleg, you are tilting at windmills here, because from your responses you are not looking for the same features the people who are excited for GW2 are looking for. If you feel the look of GW2 is too cutesy for your liking (which implies you want something very gritty, possibly grimdark, Warhammer-like, or dark low fantasy) then the aesthetic of GW2 will not ever appeal to you the way it does someone for whom a gritty/hyper-realistic look is not as important.
Trying to understand the hype from a perspective of someone who likes a different genre or gameplay feel entirely is an exercise in futility. If the things that ArenaNet is doing are not important to you, you will never get what makes other people excited about it, and we can't make you care about the things that are important to us (just as you will not make me prefer a gritty/hyper-realistic/grimdark setting in an MMO).
I have to laugh at your post:
Asian MMO
Generic
It's perfectly fine if you dislike a game. We all do. But please, do some <-- ATLEAST some research.
That is true but on the other hand is it really made for a console and not the ported PC game every other console MMO is. Class 4 ain't based on Meridian 59 or UO as almost all other MMOs ever made is, it uses a unique mechanic which never have been seen before.
Here is an interview with Strain himself that is just a few months old about it.
I don't play console games or anything, but this game will probably make me go and get one.
omg thanks OP I needed a good laugh today.
You clearly know nothing about guild wars. Why dont ya go watch some recent vids of the game from G-Star.
[mod edit]
[mod edit]
Like I said the cutesy graphics are not a gamebreaker. Even no graphics is not a gamebreaker (I love roguelikes for instance). But I also listed in a previous post why I am suspicious of the dynamic events, no holy-trinity, and no subscription fee for GW2 which I thought were the main reasons for the hype.
So, other than dynamic events, no holy trinity, and no subscription fee, what am I missing that is generating all this hype?
I'm really not a troll as, like I said, I will be buying and playing GW2 despite my doubts. Maybe posting doubts before a release is sort of therapy for me as I pretty much always buy into the hype eventually LOL.
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
So how about we talk sports now. GW 2 pvp going e-sports baby!!
[mod edit]
[mod edit]
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
I really hate to start a pissing contest with you because you appear to enjoy constantly moving the target.
By clicking the link, you are going into the forum so you really do go to the forum. Otherwise you wouldn't be here.
[mod edit]
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
[mod edit]
Whether the poster views this forum as GW2 forum or not doesn't matter, the fact is it is a GW2 forum.
As for posting "pro-GW2 propaganda in and anti-GW2 thread", the original poster in asking for it. If you ask me what time it is and I feel like responding, i don't talk about what I ate for breakfast. I answer your question if I intend to help you. You can choose to believe me or not, either way I am just answering your question.
The OP chose to go to the GW2 forum, I agree with that. The responders, at least most of them (me for one), are merely responding to the thread not posting to the forum directly.
But the overarching fact is that prior to release a games hype is mostly speculation not facts. I am usually pretty pessimistic these days in general (fool me once... etc) but will always try a game especially when the hype/reviews remain positive through release. I think my pessimism about GW2 is valid just as my pessimism about many other games is valid. But every once in a while a game lives up to the hype or even surpasses it in some way, and despite my current negativity about GW2 nothing would make me happier than it actually being a ground breaking game.
I actually was pleasantly surprised by how SWTOR plays (PVE at least). I personally don't think having an actual story is a trivial thing for an RPG and shouldn't be dismissed so lightly. It really is more advanced than just cut scenes which is what most who haven't played it seem to think.
GW2 I'm crossing my fingers, but I don't hide the fact that I am highly skeptical at this point...
GW2 "built from the ground up with microtransactions in mind"
1) Cash->Gems->Gold->Influence->WvWvWBoosts = PAY2WIN
2) Mystic Chests = Crass in-game cash shop advertisements
One thing I always go back to is this quote from Colin Johanson (their lead content designer) here on mmorpg.com
...all the information we release, we try to make sure that what we’re talking about is in the game, it’s working, and it does the things that we want it to do before we come out and we talk about it. I think this day and age MMO gamers have been made sort of jaded by MMO developers, where they hear all these great things that people want to do, and for whatever reason, oftentimes they don’t have time to do all of it. The things that people say they’re going to do, they don’t end up being able to do as well as they wanted to, or they don’t end up being able to do at all, and we don’t want to be the kind of company that does that.
I know technically this is just another promise, but is shows they're aware of the history of games. Look at the demos they've done. Other games, you can't even find any footage of the game at all before release. With GW2, there's mountains of demo footage. And it's not just closed off either. You can see people just running around town for 20 minutes, or doing as much as they can of the personal story. We haven't seen everything, but we've seen 5 zones, a PVP battleground, underwater...we haven't seen a dungeon, but we've heard about it through journalists. I feel like if ArenaNet (or NCSoft) was going to screw up this game, it would have already been out for a year.
Btw, I do encourage people to be skeptical. I'm not seeing red flags, but we won't know for certain until we have the game in hand. I'm glad you're going to try it out despite your doubts.
Anyway, why I'm hyped... I talk more and more about the vision I see ArenaNet have for it. I don't look at this game like it's a collection of random features. I think they have goals. One thing is to make the game more social than previous games which tend to be isolating in the open world. DEs, being communal, help with that a lot, but it goes way beyond that. They're trying to make the game as griefless as possible. Everyone is one faction because they don't want to divide up the playerbase. The game automentors you down when you do lower level content, not just to prevent griefing, but also so you can play with your friends regardless of level. You can teleport to any other major city right after the tutorial so you can play with friends immediately regardless of race. There's cross profession combos and all classes can rez so that people can help and support each other even if ungrouped. Everyone gets a hit at every gathering node in order to prevent griefing. Everybody has every gathering profession so that you don't have to feel like you're holding anybody else up/waiting for them. There's 30+ minigames in cities because they wanted the cities to be more social. Any 5 people can do a dungeon so you don't have to turn friends away because you need a certain class.
I could go on too, how it's not just getting rid of the holy trinity but wanting combat in general to be more active, and all the bullet points that would support that. Or giving people a story, or making underwater a big part of the game, or the things they're doing with PVP.
It's not just big things, it's little things. Like having your mail delivered to you with a carrier pigeon or making the underwater weeds separate as you go through them. I just think they're taking their time and making a great game. Not a game for everybody (plenty of valid reasons why someone might not like it), but just an innovative, quality, polished product at a fair price (B2P). By all means, have doubts, be skeptical, but we should keep an open mind that a company might finally "do it right" when it comes to making a AAA MMO.
"Gamers will no longer buy the argument that every MMO requires a subscription fee to offset server and bandwidth costs. It's not true you know it, and they know it." -Jeff Strain, co-founder of ArenaNet, 2007
@Cali59
Yeah. What he said.
Okay, off the top of my head, in no particular order, these are the features that appeal to me in GW2 (and which appear in no other MMO in their entirety):
* a graphical style that appeals to me
* no holy trinity
* dynamic events (not merely the mechanic of the appearance of random events, but the jettisoning of "required" quest mobs, quest chains that must be shared step-by-step or repeated in order to participate on the same level as others, etc.)
* level-scaling (jettisoning the problem of outleveling friends/gaming partners, which is a very real problem for me and my gaming circle)
* branching personal storyline (with objectives and choices that can be shared, and with credit/xp granted for helping someone else with their personal storyline)
* no subscription fee
* phased harvesting nodes (no more node stealing/competition)
* flat leveling curve
* active combat (I never want to play another game where I can't dodge an incoming fireball again)
* teleportation via waypoints (no more "meet you in half an hour" when I only have half an hour to play)
* highly varied character creation
* no endless/exponential gear grind
* underwater combat that makes sense (finally a game acknowledges that fireballs and bows don't work underwater)
Each of the above are features I have pined for while playing other games. Whether or not you believe ANet are blowing smoke up our behinds, NO other game dev has claimed all of the above features. I've also had the opportunity to play the GW2 demo on two occasions, and while anything can change between now and launch, I have seen many of these features in play, or have seen them in play in GW1 so ANet's reputation speaks for itself for me.
That is why it doesn't matter to me what nifty features SWTOR or TSW or ArcheAge has to offer. I'm not looking for something merely "different" from WoW. I'm looking for the list above, and more, and that is why GW2 stands out for me.
Edit: And I don't know why I bother when cali59 has it all nicely wrapped up
. But these are my thoughts FWIW.
You did a good job as well. I will throw one at you to.
And what he said.
Didn't hail mine.
Good posts. I don't think anyone's being defensive, they're just correcting a certain poster's obvious dissatisfaction with a game they have not played and continue to base on ANet's first game (developed at least 100 years ago), and correcting someone's misconceptions at this stage without the ability to say well play the game and see, is frustrating, though Cali keeps trucking like a champ with solid points like the amount of demo footage and demo availability that ANet has produced. People are loving the game so far. If you don't, there's always something else to play. It's not like the 80's where the most obvious choices were Nintendo or Sega.
I liked yours! lol