[Column] Guild Wars 2: Being More Powerful

SBFord

One of the persistent problems for MMO players is what to do once the level cap has been reached. In our latest Guild Wars 2 column, we take a look at recent and upcoming changes to the game designed to keep players interested. Read on and then leave your thoughts in the comments.

At the launch of Guild Wars 2 players began on their paths to greatness.  Each new day meant a few more levels and some new gear.  But now it’s very common to see a zone filled with level 80 characters.  The quest for power has come to an end.  Even with the addition of Ascended accessories, players have reached their peak. Finally ArenaNet is going to change all that, and they don’t need to raise the level cap to do it!

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: Being More Powerful.

Once you've been a level 80 for a while there isn't much that can really challenge you

Battlerock

I would be interested in skills that help others fill specific roles easier. In other words can we at least get some real tanky classes in game. Having everyone as dps and no agro management really makes the game kind of silly. Yes I would like real healers too, but real tanks and agro management would really help the pve out and it would also help pvp but the pve mainly would geta massive boost to what devs can throw at us from a mechanics standpoint and really Iincrease the replay ability of pve. Gw2 isnt the only game doing this right now I have played some shooters ( defiance ) that are just chaoctic spam festival evenfs rather than dynamic events. I remember a few months back I was in a gw2 group event. I equipped a bow with my warrior. I stood in what I thought was the middle of the event and pressed the number one key just to see what would happen. I was almost always the first one on target aprox 20 players nearby and I never moved or quit hitting the key until the event was over. I was awarded gold, then I logged out and didnt play again. Likewise in defiance, I ride into an Ark fall. I only avoid taking damage when necessary, I do no dps at all I just sit there after the fight I was awarded. Again I logged out and never played again.

Lord.Bachus

Strange somehow all the things i predicted before release have become major isues now..

Dakeru

The column is as biased as can be.

I'm not looking forward at all to gear up all my chars again.

Krighton

You'll do it and you'll like it! We're drones and piggy banks to them.

@.@ go get 12 gallywag tails and turn them in - @.@ "Yes master!"

 

@.@ go get 30 boom boom noses and them in - @.@ "Yes master!"

 

"here is your reward! It's virtually useless, do more work and you'll forget it sucks! @.@ ; Yes Master!

I quit a long time ago. Eventually you move on.

 

Diemos

Aww look at all the experts still voicing their "concerns" about the game. The ascended craftable gear thats coming is safe to assume a bit of a long process to completely gear up, but its awesome that they allow it to be crafted.

The game is developing great, over the last year they have experimented with a lot some things weren't so fun and some things have really been a blast. I especially have enjoyed these last 3 updates.

You know a game is pretty successful when everytime a topic is posted the haters come in droves repeating eachother with the same comments that have been posted since day 1.

nolic1

The news that was released recently by Collin Johnson on whats to come down the pipeline for the game all is great news and can't wait for it to come. If they add accended armor and weapons that you have to craft and are bound good then you wont see them filling up the ah at prices that you can't get unless you farm nonstop and players will have to work for it. As for the skills and traits I say bring it thats gonna be great changes as well. 

 

Now for everyone saying this game need tanks and healers if you want one make one sense most classes can be those types anyway and yes I know some can't but after playing alot of PvP lately I have seen some people making classes into dedicated types like a ele healer or a engineer tank or even better a thief healer. My main is a mesmer that can keep most alive in dungeons runs and tank to if needed but thats how I set up his traits and skills. So yes you can tank and heal but you can do anything most of the time with any class.

 

I also say bring on new dungeons and do away with some that dont fit anymore like make Orr change with the death of Zaitan and dump that dungeon for a new one there that has up changing Orr. I also say do away with the others and add new ones to take there place to bring in new storys and such. But most of all give us new dungeons that are not in the Fractuals those need to be done away with now that Asended items can be earned outside of it faster now. 

pgdeaner

David,

I think the new skills have the potential to fix some of what is broken in the game but not everything.  What has become frustrating for me is the lack of interesting mechanics for boss fights.

They seem to have similar issues to the Neverwinter staff for boss fight development.

Need to make the boss more challenging:

• More red circles on the ground. (check)
• More adds. (check)
• If that's not enough, give the boss the ability to teleport at will with no limit. (check)

The anvils that they place in the dungeons should be an option for when you make a mistake.  Not a necessity for every dungeon where you pound you head against a brick wall until it comes down.

botrytis

GW1 had alot of skills but how many of them were useful? Elites like Cultists Fervor, Order of Apostasy, Soul Leach, and Wither (Necro line of skills) were very situational and not the useful in general. More skills are fine, IF they are are useful.

 

Tokken

does that mean we will be overpowered at lower lvl areas? Help me understand...

 

botrytis

Originally posted by Tokken

does that mean we will be overpowered at lower lvl areas? Help me understand...

 

Don't forget lvl scaling.....

Bloodaxes

At least in GW1 you didn't have all your weapon skills before even reaching half the level cap (Or earlier if you wanted).

In GW1 you had to acquire these skills not being handed to you easily like in GW2. You would start with some basic skills then you upgraded them with time while in GW2 you have these skills and have fun using them forever as they won't change until an update increases the amount. (Which I doubt they will implement that many new weapon skills sadly)

BillMurphy

Originally posted by Tokken

does that mean we will be overpowered at lower lvl areas? Help me understand...

 

Nope. Skills and Traits will be just like they are now: they scale with wherever you venture to. Adding more skills and traits literally just gives you more options on your character, something that's sorely needed and can be a great way to add to endgame progression without always creeping upwards in terms of power.

Dakeru

Originally posted by Diemos
 everytime a topic is posted the haters come in droves repeating eachother with the same comments that have been posted since day 1.

Yeah how dare I took their promise that I won't have to gear up again which was part of their manifesto.

Makes me a hater clearly.

 

[mod edit]

botrytis

Originally posted by bloodaxes

At least in GW1 you didn't have all your weapon skills before even reaching half the level cap (Or earlier if you wanted).

In GW1 you had to acquire these skills not being handed to you easily like in GW2. You would start with some basic skills then you upgraded them with time while in GW2 you have these skills and have fun using them forever as they won't change until an update increases the amount. (Which I doubt they will implement that many new weapon skills sadly)

There were very few weapon skills, at the beginning, in GW1, unless you count the warrior skills (like Backbreaker, Cleave, etc) which are weapon specific. If you did PvP only in GW1 and had bought the skill packs all were unlocked for you at the beginning. The problem is many of the skills were poor implementations or were so OP - the balance was bad.

GW2, I think, was to try to address the imbalance that happened in GW1 with so many skills. A.Net also didn't think about how people would use all the different skills together (like when GW1 first came out, Minion Masters could control so many minions as to make them OP).  Not saying there were successful with GW2, but I think it was a step in the right direction. I would like one more weapon, I could switch to.

Rusque

I like having more skills to choose from, more variety in traits for customization. I really hope they give existing weapon a mix'n'match system so dagger / dagger thief isn't the same as every other d/d thief.

I don't particularly care for ascended items. I hate laurels and based on how ANET does "crafting" aka mystic forge of luck, I don't know if I'm keen on a new tier of gear being available through crafting.

Instead of new stats and junk, why not create unique armor types that replace stats with procs/charge that do something cool?

How about a guardian armor with 2 stats and a charge ability? Power/Vit/Divinity - each time you deal a critical strike you gain a charge (max 10 charges), press ____ to release the charge and grant might, regeneration, protection (1s per charge).

Something like that. Or a mesmer can have a chaos proc on armor, upon crit you are granted a random boon for 5s (10s internal cd) and when you are crit you opponent receives a random condition.

 

Horizontal is the key, more stats is just more stats which only leads to a treadmill. More stats means content becomes easier, so new content is requested, new content means people will once again want more stats and so the cycle continues.

More horizontalism!

Arskaaa

More levels, or secondary levels! i hate when hit max lvl u dont get more power with exp.

Volkon

Originally posted by Krighton

You'll do it and you'll like it! We're drones and piggy banks to them.

@.@ go get 12 gallywag tails and turn them in - @.@ "Yes master!"

 

@.@ go get 30 boom boom noses and them in - @.@ "Yes master!"

 

"here is your reward! It's virtually useless, do more work and you'll forget it sucks! @.@ ; Yes Master!

I quit a long time ago. Eventually you move on.

 

WoW forums are that way. ----->

 

This is Guild Wars 2. What you speak of doesn't exist here.

Volkon

Originally posted by Arskaaa
More levels, or secondary levels! i hate when hit max lvl u dont get more power with exp.

 

 

You don't need more power with experience to get more powerful with experience.

Siphaed

God, this article made me cringe.   It felt like it was written by a currently/retired WoW player.   Why?  Because the constant jibber-jabber about "more power" and "always wanting to be come more powerful".   That's NOT what a game is about.

 

I love how GW2 is not about power creeps or trying to catch up with an ever growing power gap.   This means that players are about skill, not gear score/power.    In fact, dungeons that do a boost up to 80 (like Aetherblade  Retreat) are a testament to how some people of a bit lower level, with clearly less gear, can still be a better player than those that are fully level 80 with full exotics and ascended gear.

 

Being level 80 can still be a challenge without requiring a power creep.  Have you seen your own (MMORPG.com) sponsored Mist League sPvP tournaments?   Top tier and even mid tier WvWvW is a constant ebb and flow of battles raging between sides all the time.     

 

Things like the mini-games, which remove the level/gear, and just leave pure skill.   Southsun Survivor does this, Aspect Arena does this.   Sanctum Sprint does this,  Dragon Ball did this, Keg Brawl does this.     These things give challenges without power increase or  requirement.

 

Challenging a player's wits, a player's coordination, a player's skill ability and character control.   THOSE are ways to make a game.  NOT, and I repeat: NOT increasing freakin' gear and skill power to inevitably have some sort of creep that is less about the player's ability to play and more about the player's ability to add new numbers to their avatar.

botrytis

Originally posted by Arskaaa
More levels, or secondary levels! i hate when hit max lvl u dont get more power with exp.

Max level is max level - I do not think it behooves companies to allow players who grind dungeons constantly be more powerful because they spent 3 months to get the gear to make them OP. Sorry, that is not my type of game - Rift had that. I think if you cannot compete toe to toe with someone, same level, armor/weapons, and skills, then you shouldn't be playing games. 

alkarionlog

having a challenge is not the same as running teh damn annoying dungeon for a chance to drop gear, its annoying and useless

and I sure wanted to know where the writer did find this kind of info, and if all that was just his opnion I sure hope they never do this, doing this waht the writer is saying to me is put allods and RFonline in the same tier, game who was good till devs start to make the game worse and worse

Bladestrom

+1

There are games with power creep, and there are games without. GW2 is a game with horizontal progression primarily just like its successful predecessor, and it would be just as stupid to want vertical progression in that game as it would in GW2. You can guess that those arguing for vertical progression now would have complained back then. it's not just GW2 either, can you imagine if people complained that they could not get tier x+1 battleships in eve every 6 months, equally daft.

fivoroth

Originally posted by botrytis
GW1 had alot of skills but how many of them were useful? Elites like Cultists Fervor, Order of Apostasy, Soul Leach, and Wither (Necro line of skills) were very situational and not the useful in general. More skills are fine, IF they are are useful.

 

I hear this argument a lot. Well, you know what? A lot more of the skills in Gw1 were useful than the actual number of gw2 skills. There was more variety. IF someone tells me that there are more viable builds and skill variety in gw2 I would just dismiss them as a gw2 fanboy. True there were a lot of situational skills in gw1 but there was more variety, a larger number of useful skills etc. ACtually come to think of it, there are situational skills in gw2! I hate that my weapon determines 5 of my skills. I hate it that I can only have 3 utilities and 1 heal. Super limited.

Did I mention that the number of elites is pathetic. I can tell you that I used more elite skills on 1 of my gw1 chars than I used on all 5-6 of my gw2 chars.

The skill variety in gw2 is a huge letdown and it is pathetic. If you think that it has more viable skills/builds than gw1 then you are just clueless.

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Arskaaa
More levels, or secondary levels! i hate when hit max lvl u dont get more power with exp.

Max level is max level - I do not think it behooves companies to allow players who grind dungeons constantly be more powerful because they spent 3 months to get the gear to make them OP. Sorry, that is not my type of game - Rift had that. I think if you cannot compete toe to toe with someone, same level, armor/weapons, and skills, then you shouldn't be playing games. 

Haha, that is not exactly true. MMos don't take much skill. RTS, shooters, Dota style games - those take skill. MMOs are grindfest where items always seem to determine the outcome. What you mean to say that if he doesn't like it he shouldn't be playing MMOs? MMOs are not a good example of your typical games. They are an anomaly which only like 5% of gamers play. MMOs are super niche.

Razeekster

This game's progression at endgame made me quit. Just nothing there that made me want to continue playing. I have no interest in being the fashion King of Tyria.

nuttob

Originally posted by fivoroth

 

Haha, that is not exactly true. MMos don't take much skill. RTS, shooters, Dota style games - those take skill. MMOs are grindfest where items always seem to determine the outcome. What you mean to say that if he doesn't like it he shouldn't be playing MMOs? MMOs are not a good example of your typical games. They are an anomaly which only like 5% of gamers play. MMOs are super niche.

MMO's don't take much skill?.....really?  Depends on what you are doing.