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My review of the free 4 day trial of GW2
Blazer6992
Member UncommonPosts: 643
Below are just a few of my thoughts of what I expierenced during my four days of the free trial for Guild Wars 2. I know I'm missing somethings that I can't think of right now, but below is what was on my mind the most. Overall I didn't think it was a bad game, just different. It took me untill the third day to get used to the idea that you don't have to look for npc's to find your quests, instead you just walk in to that area. After doing an area it took me a while to figure out what to do next. I just went on to the next area of the map that I haven't been to yet. Is that what I'm supposed to do?
I hate the fact that the only thing my armor says is "broke" can I get some kind of percentage so I know when it's time to repair? I have to pay to go to a teleport spot when I die, that's messed up. Not only am I pissed cause I'm dead, but you have to make me pay for it ?? That right there is almost a game breaker for me, that's messed up. The death system in EQ2 is the only reason why I never played it. I don't like the fact that they "adjust" your level to the area you are in. I got my ass kicked in one place so I waited till I was a higher level and when I went back it made me a lower level again so I could die some more, and then charge me for it. I get these in game mails that I don't understand at all. Some show me on the map where to go, and when I get there I don't know what to do, I can't find anything or anyone. I had one tell me to talk to someone in Lions Arch but didn't tell me where or even put him on my map. So I never found him. I had a few mails that told me to talk to someone, they had big stars above there head and was on the map so I could find them, but when I did and talked to them they really didn't say much at all, and the stars never left above their head and still showed on my map. So I'm not sure what is up with that, I didn't know what to do.
There is one major thing I can't figure out at all. The skill points and talent points. I had two open spots in my tool bar but couldn't figure out how to put anything down there. I used several points and got more boxes in the skill points tree thingy, but I still couldn't get any more skills put in my tool bar. Dragging and dropping them didn't work either. Never saw a skill point "tree" look like that, not sure how it worked I guess. Plus the fact that I chose the race I did because of the racial traits, but I never saw them anywhere. So not sure what is up with that. The vista things that you have to find remind me a hell of a lot like those cubes you have to find in SWTOR that give you a couple of points to some of your stats. What you have to do to get to some of them is insane. I didn't do any crafting, plus I couldn't figure out how to learn any of the crafting skills. But I wasn't worried about that since it was a four day trial anyways. I wanted to do and see as much as I could. I did come across some items on the ground that required a crafting tool or something to be equipped in order to get, but I'm not sure why I would have to unequip a weapon and equip a tool to harvest something, and then back again. Seems like there should be a separate spot where you could put a harvesting tool in or something. Maybe there is, I don't know, I didn't see anything though. Is there a listing of the server populations? Seemed like every server was pretty filled. Is it me or does it seem like they need more servers?
Comments
I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your time in Tyria, however i have to say that the issues you had with the game are quite odd. Paying for dying? It's a death penalty. The armor percentage you want is a luxury that people simply don't need. There is no Titan Panel in this game. The big draw for a lot of people in this game is the fact that there aren't quests. We all had an issue at first when adjusting to the game, but adjust we did.
Leveling down keeps content relevant and the best part is, the loot stays relevant to your top level in most cases. You dying a lot is on you and the cost of dying will make you pay more attention to what you are doing as to avoid it as much as possible in the future. This isn't WoW, SWTOR, Rift or any other game that has or has had a talent tree and honestly, it sounds like this game just isn't for you.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
You basicly proved what i've said all along.
This game is VERY newcommer unfriendly. Arena net should've come up with a way to guide people better when they just joined the game. Many of the things you've listen as 'not sure what to do here' are really easy when you actually know it. And no you don't have to unequip your weapons when mining
.
It took me 3 beta weekends to learn many of the things and i still am learning.
The ingame mails you recieve can be really confusing aswell. And since there is no questlog it's hard to keep track of things. The 'quest' chain for the weekend event that started in LA was really confusing for many people. It took me like 30 min to figure out what was up with the washed up barrels. When i actually did the entire quest chain i thought it was great fun! but it took me a frigging day to figure out all of the steps! You talked to some guy who gave you a map with a name on it (via in-game mail to make it more confusing), nothing more.... Well it took me a google search to actually find out that it was a location lol.
Anyway, i can totally understand that it much have been a confusing 4 days but i'll tell you right now that the game is very well put together it's just not explained very well ^^
You can swap skills in and out of your bar by hovering over one and clicking on the yellow arrow above the icon. This then shows you a list of all the skills you have bought, and you just click one to equip it.
There was a tutorial that popped up explaining it when you get your first skill point. You may have turned this off though (easily done).
"When people don't know much about something, they tend to fill in the blanks the way they want them to be filled in. They are almost always disappointed." - Will Wright
"You can't play poker like you play uno."
Armor pieces in GW2 are either broken or not. There is no percentage. When you die, a piece of armor breaks down. When a broken piece breaks down again its stats become nullified until you repair it. It's a very simple mechanic and is just different from what people know.
Same goes for most of the stuff you couldn't figure out. F.e. you don't have to unequip weapons to use a gathering tool. A deeper look into your hero window or a simple question in map chat might've told you that.
And doing stuff for vistas isn't insane. A little jumping isn't THAT much to ask. Also they're optional to a degree.
Maybe you felt pressed for time in those 4 days you were given and thought you didn't have the time to delve into the first few layers of the basic features... in which case I am sorry it didn't work out for you. But next time try to remember that these are MMOs you're playing and other players CAN be helpful.
And those odd mails were concerning an event over the weekend... that must've confused a lot of people. °O
Ever seen one of these?
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page
Though I will agree it can a be a bit confusing to start off with but not that much seeing as there is s very thorough wiki to help you.
This doom and gloom thread was brought to you by Chin Up the new ultra high caffeine soft drink for gamers who just need that boost of happiness after a long forum session.
Although i personally liked feeling like a noob once again in this game, i can see that some of the approaches ANet took in GW2 may alienate new players. I can very well see myself in some of your points, as in my first days of GW2 was also pretty much wondering about and trying to figure out some of the same stuff you encountered in your 4 days.
Whoever invited you or gave you the key should have offered his help in case things like "wtf is going on here!?" happen to you. Trying out a new game should be fun and exciting... not confusing.
I'm shure Anet will repeat the trial at a time and if you want to give it another try, you could ask for a key i.e. on this forum, with the sidenote that perhaps you need some hint here and there. Or even someone with a free character slot to create a char and play along with you for a few levels. It shouldn't be a problem to get an invitation AND a server to join/ a nametag to add to your friendlist right away.
Goodf luck and dont let this experience discourage you - you may miss out on an otherwise great game.
GW2 has an odd learning curve. There's a lot that can feel lacking, until you learn how it works, and the game does a poor job of indicating to new players just how much they have to learn, never mind helping them actually learn any of it. I think the game probably lost a lot of players before they even learned to play, because it just seems like what you see, is what you get. It's almost like they do such a bad job of teaching the game, the learning curve itself is hidden.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
When I read what you wrote my only thought is that you just ran around screaming la la la la for 4 days and didnt bother just for one sec study the game interface or even read anything or even ask anything in chat.
Thumb of rule for any MMO
1: study the game interface.
2: Ask for help in chat
3: read wiki (takes like 5 min to grasp the basics of the game)
Sure the mails can be confusing due to it was a event for people who have played GW2 for some time so yeah that I can understand.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
You have to get rid of the WoW clone mentality to fully enjoy GW2. If you get in with the intention to play it like WoW or a clone, it will just not work.
Oh, and about the armor damaging, it's simple... once all your 6 armor pieces are damaged, the next still will be them start to break and you losing stats. Before, you lose nothing.
Respect, walk
Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?
- PANTERA at HELLFEST 2023
Your lack of common sense is disturbing...
I understand that you felt the need to rush through stuff so you can get to try out as much as you could in the 4 days.
However, everything you are complaining about are things that are very easy to find out if you look and read exactly.
If you had opened your character interface you would see many tabs on the left side of that window.
There you can find a quest log, achievements, weapon and support skills/traits among many other things.
If you look on your characters equipment, the crafting tools slots are there to be seen aswell.
You wrote about the map but honestly if you open the map once and look exactly on the left side you see how much you finished of some parts of the area.
You wrote about an indicator for your armor, in the middle bottom on your gui, your armor pieces start to show up in a mini version of your armor when they are heavily damaged or broken.
The Death penalty is minimal in GW2 and much better handled than in other games.
Every crafting station has an npc in front of it that says that they are crafting masters/instructors.
Why you never talked with any of them to check the options that pop up is beyond me.
At the login screen you have a small guide of the games launcher, when you start you are going through a tutorial stage and your personal story is updated in your quest log as you go.
Would had understood if you wouldn't find special functions like the collectibles tab or stuff like that, that's not common in other mmos, but not finding or having issues with the simplest things shows that you didn't bother to read anything in the game, didn't checked your interfaces and options and didn't checked the stickies on this forum you wrote a topic on at all.
So even I would agree that a better tutorial would be good for new players, the issue was in this case yourself.
I miss DAoC
I'm glad someone feels the way I do. I don't dislike the game, but I would of liked a little more time though. I agree 100% about the quest log, it needs something like that badly. I also had those quest boxes on the right hand side of the screen that I could never get rid of or move. They took up a lot of screen and blocked my vision a lot of times. I would of liked to be able to turn that off. The same with my chat box, I kept it turned off, it was in an awkward spot and I couldn't figure out how to move it or any of the UI features.
Sounds like you went into the game looking for stuff to complain about. Did not even bother to open your skill panel, Hero panel, Inventory, crafting , ect.
Half of your questions and problems would have been solved with just about two minutes of looking or reading the starter guide on the GW2 site.
Sorry you did not have a good time. Most of us actually enjoy having to figure a few things out instead of every single thing being so easy my kid could figure it out.
GW2 is the easiest MMO I have played in the past decade. if you had problems with it then all I can say is you didnt bother to even try or are just here to complain and bash.
I could put my 13y/o daughter on this game and I bet she would have less problems than you did. Yes its that easy, almost too easy for most of us I think.
There are no quests so there is no need for a quest log. The game tracks your personal story however and you can read all the previous steps that you have undertaken to give yourself a reminder of what you are up to.
plus you can minimize any quests in the top right. the don't take up any space at all that way. also, type "/wiki" in the chat will answer any of the questions you had.
i have to agree with everyone here. it sounds like you went into the game like a brand new mmo player. if this is your first mmorpg, i'll warn you that these games are a lot different then the normal console games. it sounds like you didn't try and find an answer to any question you had in game. tbh i wouldn't call this a review, but more of you showing us you don't know mmorpg basics.
who ever gave you the trial code should have helped you out with the basics. the hints that pop up answer a lot of the questions/issues you had with the game though, but it sounds like you didn't read them. it still isn't fair to be let lose on your first mmorpg without a little help. if this isn't your first mmorpg then that's really your own fault for being lazy.
With GW2 the answer is always "You're playing it wrong".
A winning strategy if ever there was one /s.
Also - in options you can change size of your UI, etc. It is the same in EVERY GAME. It is just where it is is different in every game.
I really cant say I had any of the problems that you did when I first started.
At lower levels paying to get to waypoints is not a problem whatsoever, Just stay away from the trading post, its like every themepark MMO before it, never buy things leveling up. Yea there will be some gaps in gear, but I leveled to 80 with some pieces 20 levels behind me or more, no problem. Weapons are the only things you might want to keep on top of.
The armor thing, yea it was a bit of an adjustment. Its either normal, degraded, or broken, nothing in between really.
Skill points buy skills which are active (signets are active and passive), trait points buy traits, which are passive, wasnt to hard to figure out with a little exploring of the menus.
To put skills in my bar, i hovered my mouse over the box, saw a little arrow appear above it, clicked that, and viola! the big listing of things I could put in there.
Weapon unlocks, i thought they unlocked as you leveled, but shortly after I started using my engineer's pistol, i got the 2nd skill, and discovered they were based on a few kills.
quests...went to the green star and either talked to guy or zoned into quest area, it wasnt difficult.
I'm not sure why you were having some of the problems you were, most seem like they should have been covered by some patience and exploration of the UI, maybe some checking of the wiki.
/shrug
If you have played GW2 and you read OP then yes he did play it wrong.
If it's not broken, you are not innovating.
It's funny, I just had a RL friend start playing GW2.
He never played a MMO before, his favourite game series is Uncharted and he loves point and click games like Walking Dead. He plays FPS a bit. Very casual. And a total noob, in my view, but he drinks beer like a champ.
Anyway, he found things quite simple.
He had tried WoW before but hated the graphics, the childishness, and how he had to find spells and put them on his bar and add bars and such. He also hated reading quest logs and such to find out what to do. He just wanted to jump in and do things. He never bought the box.
He is loving GW2 right now and has bought the box. But it is still painful watching him play. He is still a total noob and has no idea what weaponswap is. But to him, the game makes more sense than WoW did and he can talk about it.
In any case, I think people coming from WoW expect GW2 to be like WoW.
It is not. It's that simple really.
Some of the stuff can be confusing initially. They really should implement a thorough in-game help system. Having to leave the game to figure out why something works is just not a good way to do things these days.
Don't fret it. If you liked what you saw, go out and buy it. If not, leave it at that.