how is guild wars 2/ is it worth getting thread?

[BloatedGuppy]

"Grind" as in killing random enemies for experience points? And no quests? Did you miss all the heart quests and dynamic events or something?

I'm confused.

Grind is a colloquialism now.

It just means "doing things".

You're talking about a freshly released MMO. Of course it's going to be buggy a month after release, it's an MMO.

I'm aware of what genre the game is in. It was unacceptably buggy through most of September. It has been improving, albeit slower than I would like, since then.

Perhaps you were happy with getting to Orr and finding 70% of the events broken. Perhaps you were delighted when week after week they were "fixed" only to be immediately broken again mere hours after the patch went live. This isn't 1998, the standards for release in this genre have changed.

Getting defensive about it and claiming me coming across bugs is somehow a "user problem" as though my ineptitude at games is breaking events or causing skill point NPCs to disappear is a confounding ad hominem.

 

[Zeren]

I played it up until I was forced to grind just so I could be strong enough to do the story. There are no quests other than the story quests so it felt empty and unfulfilling.

"Grind" as in killing random enemies for experience points? And no quests? Did you miss all the heart quests and dynamic events or something?

I'm confused.

I don't see those as valid quests. There is little to no story behind that, just stumbling upon something and killing it. If they were more like the story quests I would be happy.

 

[Gennadios]

...

Part of this is laziness (mobs just hit harder and have a ton of hit-points, which is a cheesy way to implement difficulty)

...

The word "clusterfuck" is one that leaps most immediately to mind.

...

They're not horrible...we're not talking early Warhammer Online "dungeons" or anything here, but they're a pretty hard step down from the careful design seen in more PvE focused games like the paradigmatic WoW.

I second the sentiment.

The saving grace is that the lack of defined class roles leaves plenty of room open for individual heroism. If you're really good at what you do, you won't need to compromise it to fit a group's needs in most cases, if everyone's really good at what they do, the dungeon will be a steamroll.

If everyone sucks at what they do, it's usually completable regardless, it'll just cost alot in armor repair and will lead to respawn relays where people make a beeline from the spawn point to get to the boss before their health starts regenerating.

They're not terribad, with a group of guildies or friends looking for something to do they can be quite fun, but you can see the missed opportunities plastered wall-to-wall.

Regardless, they're an extremely small part of the game. I've done the story modes and a few exploration runs and each of them and felt no need to go back, there's a ton of other stuff to take your attention and nearly everything is attainable without doing them.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

I played it up until I was forced to grind just so I could be strong enough to do the story. There are no quests other than the story quests so it felt empty and unfulfilling.

"Grind" as in killing random enemies for experience points? And no quests? Did you miss all the heart quests and dynamic events or something?

I'm confused.

I don't see those as valid quests. There is little to no story behind that, just stumbling upon something and killing it. If they were more like the story quests I would be happy.

There's plenty of story behind them, if you stay and watch. Many of the events chain, if not most of them, and the chain always has a definite story. For example, there's an ogre village in one zone that has some merchants that aren't available to you unless the village has enough water stored up. There are two ogres whose job it is to gather water. You can help them do that by first killing off the harpies around the pond (the first event), then protecting the ogres as they gather water (the second event), and then escorting them back to the village (the third event). When you talk to the NPCs in the village and do its heart quest, you learn about the village and its inhabitants.

There's another one where you meet an asura who wants to do an experiment with raptor eggs, so you bring him the eggs. When that event ends, he performs his experiment and it goes horribly wrong, so you have to kill the giant raptor he created.

You have to look for the story, which most gamers aren't trained to do, but it's definitely there. It's not as simple as "click the NPC with the ! over their head and wait for exposition dump."

 

[Jun_Jun]

I played it up until I was forced to grind just so I could be strong enough to do the story. There are no quests other than the story quests so it felt empty and unfulfilling.

"Grind" as in killing random enemies for experience points? And no quests? Did you miss all the heart quests and dynamic events or something?

I'm confused.

I don't see those as valid quests. There is little to no story behind that, just stumbling upon something and killing it. If they were more like the story quests I would be happy.

There's plenty of story behind them, if you stay and watch. Many of the events chain, if not most of them, and the chain always has a definite story. For example, there's an ogre village in one zone that has some merchants that aren't available to you unless the village has enough water stored up. There are two ogres whose job it is to gather water. You can help them do that by first killing off the harpies around the pond (the first event), then protecting the ogres as they gather water (the second event), and then escorting them back to the village (the third event). When you talk to the NPCs in the village and do its heart quest, you learn about the village and its inhabitants.

There's another one where you meet an asura who wants to do an experiment with raptor eggs, so you bring him the eggs. When that event ends, he performs his experiment and it goes horribly wrong, so you have to kill the giant raptor he created.

You have to look for the story, which most gamers aren't trained to do, but it's definitely there. It's not as simple as "click the NPC with the ! over their head and wait for exposition dump."

Maybe he's expecting what TOR did, have a NPC trap you in a cutscene and tell you a sob story for 5 mins for a simple 'walk down the road and fetch me this' quest.
I like the story unfolding in real time in front of me, I don't need the game to grab me by the ear and force me to listen to why it is important to kill 10 boars.

 

[madwarper]

GW2 has its good moments and its bad moments.

One of my recent moments of triumph was when I took my Necromancer through Svanir's Dome in Wayfarer Foothills. The event to take control just started, and I assumed there would be several people to gather around by the time it got to the Champion part. Sadly, only 2 other people showed up. So, I ended up solo kiting the Svanir Marauder with my Staff Marks while the other 2 just continually were reviving each other because they kept dying to the Marauder's AoE attacks.

However, there are quite a few things I take issue with GW2.

Spoiler

1) Targeting. Several times, the target has been changed from the guy right in front of me to the guy on the far side of a mob convention. Whether its my Thief doing his Knifey jump, my Engineer's Rifle shot, or my Hunter's Pet charging, the target change manages to draw the entire crowd and leave me as a smear on the ground.

2) Camera Controls/Dodging. Most mobs want to try to flank you, which has you automatically turn to attack them (assuming you're targeting them). This causes movement controls in general and dodging in particular to act wonky. Several times I've tried to double tap 'S' to roll towards the camera only to go in the opposite direction right into a crowd of mobs which leaves me as a smear on the ground.

2b) There really isn't any good way to adjust the camera angle other than dragging the mouse. It wouldn't kill them to at least allow you the option to map rotating the camera up and down to the keyboard.

3) Tunnels/Ledges. For a game with combat is supposed to be more about actively dodging enemies, this game sure has a crapton of cramped tunnels where you can't see shit. Also, there's the ledges where if you try to use the dodging, you'll fall off and end up as a smear on the ground.

4) Anti-exploit. Enemies are extremely inconsistent as to when and where they want to enter combat. I've been snipped by enemies nearly on the other side of the zone, and been standing face to face to a mob and only receive the "Invulnerable" message as he full heals and takes the one step back to his spawn point.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

Maybe he's expecting what TOR did, have a NPC trap you in a cutscene and tell you a sob story for 5 mins for a simple 'walk down the road and fetch me this' quest.
I like the story unfolding in real time in front of me, I don't need the game to grab me by the ear and force me to listen to why it is important to kill 10 boars.

I think there's room for both kinds of games in the world. But since TOR-style games are more common (and of course classic MMO style "like TOR minus the cutscenes, and no one reads the text anyway"), I think people need to be more open to recognizing that the fact that the story is being presented in a different way than they're used to doesn't mean it isn't there.

Besides, the hearts, dynamic events, and NPCs all have way better writing than the personal story does. They're well worth experiencing.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

1) Targeting. Several times, the target has been changed from the guy right in front of me to the guy on the far side of a mob convention. Whether its my Thief doing his Knifey jump, my Engineer's Rifle shot, or my Hunter's Pet charging, the target change manages to draw the entire crowd and leave me as a smear on the ground.

I am having ALL KINDS of problems with this lately, and it's a new thing. I'm glad it's not just me.

Besides, the hearts, dynamic events, and NPCs all have way better writing than the personal story does. They're well worth experiencing.

Agreed, the ambient storytelling is miles better than the formal storytelling. Which isn't saying much, because the formal storytelling is rubbish, but there you have it.

 

[Zeren]

I played it up until I was forced to grind just so I could be strong enough to do the story. There are no quests other than the story quests so it felt empty and unfulfilling.

"Grind" as in killing random enemies for experience points? And no quests? Did you miss all the heart quests and dynamic events or something?

I'm confused.

I don't see those as valid quests. There is little to no story behind that, just stumbling upon something and killing it. If they were more like the story quests I would be happy.

There's plenty of story behind them, if you stay and watch. Many of the events chain, if not most of them, and the chain always has a definite story. For example, there's an ogre village in one zone that has some merchants that aren't available to you unless the village has enough water stored up. There are two ogres whose job it is to gather water. You can help them do that by first killing off the harpies around the pond (the first event), then protecting the ogres as they gather water (the second event), and then escorting them back to the village (the third event). When you talk to the NPCs in the village and do its heart quest, you learn about the village and its inhabitants.

There's another one where you meet an asura who wants to do an experiment with raptor eggs, so you bring him the eggs. When that event ends, he performs his experiment and it goes horribly wrong, so you have to kill the giant raptor he created.

You have to look for the story, which most gamers aren't trained to do, but it's definitely there. It's not as simple as "click the NPC with the ! over their head and wait for exposition dump."

While I don't mind looking for the story in some games, I do not like to do it in MMOs. They are already too loosely made in the first place for me to try and connect all the dots while I skip from area to area.

 

[EmperorSubcutaneous]

While I don't mind looking for the story in some games, I do not like to do it in MMOs. They are already too loosely made in the first place for me to try and connect all the dots while I skip from area to area.

GW2 is a little bit of a hybrid between sandbox and themepark (though still on the themepark side), which isn't for everyone.

But it's really better experienced if you pick an area and focus on exploring its entirety for a while rather than running from place to place.

 

[VanTesla]

hello escapist peoples.
So its the end of the month, I have been paid and I fancy getting a new game, and I have thought about getting guild wars 2, but I haven't heard much about it since launch and I'm curious as to it's current state, and just how the game is in general, as all reviews seem to reference it in terms of other mmo, and I haven't actually played an mmo before.

I also would like to hear from people who play the game, just how accessible it is?, as I have heard this game is rather easier on new comers.

any help is always appreciated.

Well tis free to play once you buy the copy and so you can play it at your leisure. Only thing is you need to be online for it to work like any other MMO. I hear from my friends it is a fun game and only reason I have not played it yet is for I have games i'm trying to complete first before moving on to other games.

 

[Zeren]

hello escapist peoples.
So its the end of the month, I have been paid and I fancy getting a new game, and I have thought about getting guild wars 2, but I haven't heard much about it since launch and I'm curious as to it's current state, and just how the game is in general, as all reviews seem to reference it in terms of other mmo, and I haven't actually played an mmo before.

I also would like to hear from people who play the game, just how accessible it is?, as I have heard this game is rather easier on new comers.

any help is always appreciated.

Well tis free to play once you buy the copy and so you can play it at your leisure. Only thing is you need to be online for it to work like any other MMO. I hear from my friends it is a fun game and only reason I have not played it yet is for I have games i'm trying to complete first before moving on to other games.

I'm the sort that explores everything, just not in order. If I see something that catches my eye, I go there. This leads to me missing out on the story of Guild Wars but finding all sorts of pretty places.