How did GW2 managed to build its hype "without" GW1?

[AnthonyUK]

Highly doubt that. My experiences in the betas were vastly different from yours, apparently. I know exactly what GW2 is offering in terms of gameplay, and most people I've seen in this community often know it even better than I do.

Yup and i'm sure you'll love it, i wasnt directing my comment to you, every game gets those that know it and love it for what it is, regardless of sub numbers, or popularity or money spent on it, Rift, GW2, Aion,TOR, TSW will all have the people who get it, expected it and love it.

I'm talking about the meandering horde's who are after the next big thing, you'll see them and hear them soon!

Sadly, you're probably at least a little bit right. Sometimes I wonder why I even play MMOs because I can't stand about 90% of the other players lol. That may be an overestimate but there are a lot of people that become downright despicable when given the veil of internet anonymity.

The best and worst thing about MMO's can be the people!

[shadowmatrix]

GW2 just does everything right. haters gonna hate.

No game does everything right. The truth of GW 2's design will not be truly known until it's been out for about 6 months. The same way that the problems with SWTOR came out with time the same thing will happen to GW 2. That is normal for an MMO by any company.

[DrakeWurrum]

No game does everything right. The truth of GW 2's design will not be truly known until it's been out for about 6 months. The same way that the problems with SWTOR came out with time the same thing will happen to GW 2. That is normal for an MMO by any company.

From what I've heard, most of the problems with SWTOR were loudly voiced by beta testers, but the beta testers were by and large ignored by Bioware, who chose to rush out the release ahead of schedule anyways.

[ShogunAkke]

It's awesome?

[Maklor]

A better question would be; how did GW2 managed to build its hype "with" GW1?
I was quite hyped for GW2 for a while, but I also remember playing GW1 for almost a year with two friends, and that game was honestly nothing special...
It was actually quite boring fast. The world didn't feel alive at all and the mechanics and combat felt really stale compared to WoW (which was released a year earlier).

But that's just your opinion many people LIKED GW1 despite what you think.

[Drakhar]

I'm talking about the meandering horde's who are after the next big thing, you'll see them and hear them soon!

Soon? They're already here, and have been for a number of months now... In fact they've been growing noticeably since, oh, somewhere around December 20, 2011. At this point you'd need blinders not to spot them.

But that's just your opinion many people LIKED GW1 despite what you think.

Yep, GW1 may have rubbed a few people the wrong way, but a hell of a lot more loved and played it for years.

[Merendel]

So you have conversations about things you know nothing about because you didn't play them, you base these things off what people say. Who said these things Fox News? MSNBC? some gaming forum where people spew "WoW Rules and Aions a Korean Grinder."? If I based what I play off what people say I would never have had the best PvP experience in at least a decade from SWToR the last 7 months. Like you, I take care of a 380 acre ranch and have a couple hours a day to PvP but had zero troubles getting 2 full Warhero characters. Did I get my ass handed to me? Absolutely, but it sure was satisfying when I got my first piece of real gear and the day I finished my gear set, I started over to change out armor mods. It's a reward, what in life doesn't have rewards for hard work? I do get it though , its F2P so you have to keep it in the LoLegends framework. Its much harder to design gear sets and add stats and such so just give everyone the same set of gear and call it skill based.

If no one can see how being the underdog and winning is more satisfying than beating someone equal then yes I'm done trying to explain. Those Cinderella teams that Beat Duke in March madness even though Duke gets all the recruits, fat, out of shape Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson, US Hockey team beat, whatever David vs Goliath scenerio you want to use.

I have played the game, only 9 hours but my dueling comments come from .......PvP isn't dueling, in dueling, same class same gear matters. In PvP it's supposed to be a team effort, if you have a Cinderella geared recruit on your team, the team adjust also adding challenge. Some people like challenges, some dont.

If you want a challenge from being undergeared take off some gear, problem solved. Some people like feeling like an underdog and wining anyway, I can understand and respect that. However some people also dislike being dissadvantaged because NoobROXORZ has 13 hours a day to grind gear even if he has all the skill of a box of rocks. Yes they will eventualy catch up in gear, as stated gear in MMO pvp is more a product of time invested. Just because they will catch up eventualy does not mean everybody enjoys being the underdog for 1, 2, 3 weeks or so it takes to grind out the gear on their limited playtime. Some would much rather enter in on an even playing field.

You point out sports teams that were underdog wins. Yes those were satisfying wins. However agian that was a pure Skill vs SKill contest. They were not faceing a team with magic shooes that let them run faster and jump farther because they have more funding or time, no magic ball that has a higher chance of going through the hoop. Skill vs skill.

The other major factor why leveling the playing field on gear is needed. That factor is class balance, particularly with scaling involved. you've mentioned at least once in this thread about imbalanced classes, in particular how without gear advantages its impossible to ever overcome a class that is more powerful if skill is equal. Class balance for PVP in MMO's is very hard to achieve. Dev's tweak and tweak getting closer and closer to the mark only to throw all their careful balancing out the window next patch. Why? because they have to release new gear, with more stats and no mater what they do every skill/ability/class will scale slightly differently with increased stats. When gear is part of the equation you face a wide range of potential stat levels making balance harder. On top of that you have an ever moving target making balance nearly impossible. Is it any wonder why all the MMO's that follow the style of WoW have a continuous cycle of one class or another being OP or UP for a patch only to switch places for the next patch? With only weeks/months to try and zero in on ballance while on an ever moveing platform before starting all over agian they just cant. Take gear out of the equation and the devs can keep tweeking till its as close to perfect as they can get. The target wont move on them and once they nail it it stays nailed.

[DrakeWurrum]

And let's not forget that GW2 has no orange-quality weapons to throw out balance for one specific class for an entire content patch, if not longer.

[Dezeria]

I was hyped up about GW2 after reading about just a few features.

The fact that it promotes community cooperation with dynamic events, and the WvW pvp system, which is like an upgraded version of RvR from Dark Age of Camelot.

I like feeling like I'm on a large team, and both the PvE and PvP do that. I don't like playing solo.

[Karizee]

While I derive a certain amount of satisfaction from that, I usually just figure they are fucking horrible at the game and if we were on equal footing gear wise I would have mopped the god damn floor with them instead of barely winning. That just serves to irritate me more about gear advantages and the crutch they provide for shitty players with lots of time on their hands.

I was rocking a full set of Cata Glad gear - in a random BG with a pocket healer I was GODLY.

Fully expecting to get my arse handed to me in GW2

[Assass1n]

I love the comments people make stating "They'll be going back to WoW once the realize blah blah...." I haven't played WoW since October of 2011. There has not been one thing that has interested me to return. MoP is a joke in my opinion. I reiterate, IN MY OPINION. While the monk class is quite interesting, it's not $15/month interesting. Outside of everything else that is absolutely great about GW2, no monthly sub is the biggest seller for me. I'm going to list the reasons of why I think GW2 is so popular. Primarily I think it's because ANet has taken everything that is annoying about WoW and made a seemingly better MMO.


quick fyi: I've tried games like Rift, AoC, Warhammer, and a few other MMOs but nothing stole my attention from WoW. GW2 has.
In no particular order.
1. No monthly sub. no explanation needed here.
2. No DPS/Tank/Heals. As one whom loves to do damage, I no longer have to sacrifice doing what I enjoy by rolling a tank/healer to get into fast queues and earn gear.
3. Dynamic questing. Am I the only one annoyed with getting a tasked to obtain 40 centaur ears, killing 100 centaur, and only getting 10 ears? I mean, do some centaurs not have ears?! (A bit of an exaggeration but you get the point.)
4. Actually feeling like what you do affects the environment. Because in WoW, nothing sucks more than killing 10 or 15 of something for them to respawn in 5 minutes making you feel like you've done nothing. Certain events in GW2 may change the environment for hours to days and even to weeks/months. Or maybe even be that way permanently.
5. No kill stealing. No explanation needed
6. WvWvW PVP.
7. The ability to keep a certain gear style if you so choose. Somebody told me WoW was doing that now too. Is that true?


Those are just some of the reasons I feel it's so popular. I have a lot more but I'm tired of typing. All in all it seems the endless, mundane grinding seems to be little to non-existent with GW2. It seems to be a well built game for both casual to the most hard core MMO players out there.

[joshiro]

i read ghost of ascalon and played through the story lines of the expansions again

[rezoacken]

7. The ability to keep a certain gear style if you so choose. Somebody told me WoW was doing that now too. Is that true?

Yes it's true, it's called transmogrification.

[MMOTotal]

It's different than the standard stuff which is a good thing, people like variety and the MMO genre has remained the same since 2004 for the most part.

[Sylvanie]

7. The ability to keep a certain gear style if you so choose. Somebody told me WoW was doing that now too. Is that true?

Yes. Actually, in WoW it is fairly cheap and in Rift it is free via the wardrobe system (though a Rift wardrobe cannot include a weapon or off-hand). This is one area where GW2 probably fares the worst, because it requires gemstones (I expect that you'll still come out on top once you consider the subscription fees for WoW and Rift).

[rhandric]

Yes. Actually, in WoW it is fairly cheap and in Rift it is free via the wardrobe system (though a Rift wardrobe cannot include a weapon or off-hand). This is one area where GW2 probably fares the worst, because it requires gemstones (I expect that you'll still come out on top once you consider the subscription fees for WoW and Rift).

You'll (likely, cba to find a source to double check) be able to buy transmutation stones with in-game currencies, not limited to gems

[Karizee]

You'll (likely, cba to find a source to double check) be able to buy transmutation stones with in-game currencies, not limited to gems

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Transmutation_Stone

Gems can be purchased with ingame gold also.

[Osprey39]

Yes. Actually, in WoW it is fairly cheap and in Rift it is free via the wardrobe system (though a Rift wardrobe cannot include a weapon or off-hand). This is one area where GW2 probably fares the worst, because it requires gemstones (I expect that you'll still come out on top once you consider the subscription fees for WoW and Rift).

Gems for the transmute stones can be bought with in game gold, it doesn't have to be a cash transaction. They are also awarded for map completions (although those were minor transmute stones that don't work on level 80 stuff.)

[Sylvanie]

Gems for the transmute stones can be bought with in game gold, it doesn't have to be a cash transaction. They are also awarded for map completions (although those were minor transmute stones that don't work on level 80 stuff.)

I didn't say otherwise; my point is that gemstones, one way, or the other, are a big step up in costs from the nominal gold fee in WoW (or the entirely free wardrobe in Rift). You'll either pay for them with real money or with your time. Note that I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but it's not an advantage of GW2 over WoW or Rift; it's one thing where WoW and Rift are more convenient.

[DrakeWurrum]

Gemstones being required for transmutation, I will dare to say, is just downright stupid. Would have preferred a proper wardrobe tab. It's one of my few complaints of GW2, but it's much more minor in my book than the story-telling.