when i play i see plenty of people on
I've seen plenty of people saying this.
I don't get it.
GW2 - You only need a party for pvp and dungeons, it's a solo game, offline game, etc.
Other MMOs - You only need a party for pvp and raids, it's a true mmo experience, a social game, etc.
Anyone care to enlight me?
I haven't had that experience in many other MMOs. I had to team up with folks frequently in past MMOs for all strata of play. Sometimes compulsory, sometimes at my leisure.Other MMOs - You only need a party for pvp and raids, it's a true mmo experience, a social game, etc.
My sister crystallized my own feelings on GW2 PVE; "Feels like I am soloing next to other people soloing. I don't need or rely on them at all."
When I reached level 80 in GW2 I had died a total of 7 times.
We hit 80, man. Wasn't shit to do, no RR's, no frontiers, just a couple big maps with keeps in the middle. Arenanet made a great game with amazing features, but at the cost of cutting out dozens of peripheral features that are what keep people playing other MMOs: Mounts, player housing, Open World, strong end-game. (No GW2 isn't open world, it's a bunch of linked maps).
I've played everything form EQ in it's heyday to current games like Tera and Secret World. It wasn't always possible or efficient to solo through it all.
Again. Sometimes compulsory, sometimes at your leisure. Playing with others is rarely de-emphasized. The non-grouping mechanic in GW2 leads to a feeling of isolation that is sorta pervasive throughout the entirety of the game.
Just this week I was watching a podcast where the hosts were remarking, "Why do we even need people or guilds in this game [GW2]?"
As in what is the benefit of playing with anyone in gameplay terms. It's just more bodies in the zerg, frankly.
Right, right. I recall now. It was in the "PVE problems" thread.
I think I gave you a similar answer; you're just a dude who isn't really interested in PVE.
The lack of roles and not quite well communicated class-interdependency via combo fields gives everyone the feeling their contribution is just spamming their buttons and hope that they are not the one getting attention from the boss. In a game with designated roles you don't need to worry about it because it is automatically assumed after asking who's filling which role what to do. I feel like they need to expand on stuff like combos more that gives everyone some sort of focus on what to keep up. Part of it is also that a lot people don't know much about this mechanic yet themselves so it's quite a mess. Honestly sometimes I am wondering whether they have really thought this through and whether they are planning to expand on that rather obtuse mechanic. That's why the party-less mechanics are actually looking like soloing.
Last edited by Ravenblade; 2012-11-09 at 10:53 PM.
WoW: Crowcloak (Druid) & Neesheya (Paladin) @ Sylvanas EU (/ˈkaZHo͞oəl/) | GW2: Siqqa (Asura Engineer) @ Piken Square EU
If builders built houses the way programmers built programs,the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. - Weinberg's 2nd law
He seeks them here, he seeks them there, he seeks those lupins everywhere!
I've been going through a lot of the lower content on classes and one time I found a POI down a tunnel in Michoan Marsh in Metrica. I went down the tunnel and saw a champion. Being a lowly thief with no clue on how to play it I just ignored it. Anyway about 2 minutes later someone spoke up in /map with "anyone wanna kill the champion down the tunnel in Michoan?"
Two minutes later three of us engage the champion, kill it and rake in the spoils. It's experiences like these that really make the game.
I would like to see a reverse overflow though. If there's too few people in the zone start joining them together between servers.
Also, the sky is falling.
"In order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must be intolerant of intolerance." Paradox of tolerance
Seems pretty popular to me, always see alot of players in every zone and my guild has 20+ people on at all times and it's a pretty small guild too, but of course alot have quit and then even more have probably slowed down to play perhaps a few days a week instead of everyday etc. still very popular though as for twitch tv I never even heard of it and I never looks for GW2 videos anywhere else either I did that before it came out when I couldn't see things for myself don't really have much reason for it now unless it's some puzzle I can't crack myself.
Well, I certainly don't need to group with anyone at all in other MMOs as well. I only did that when I did dungeons, or automatically got grouped with people in PvP.
It's the same with Guild Wars 2, I only group with people when I do dungeons, or SPvP, or WvWvW...
So I don't really see the problem here with people going ''I never needed anyone.'' Well, I don't either, and it's the same in other MMOs too.
GW2, for a lot of people, isn't going to be a "gotta log in every day" game.
They say they're fine with that, but I wonder if a game design aimed at not-every-day-play in an MMO setting will work.
I still play, but only if I get off from work early, which means I can finish my WoW dailies before, oh, 10 pm every night.
Honestly, I don't see how this is any different than any other MMO. I have always vehemently hated group quests. They're little more than a roadblock to my enjoyment. I have to pause whatever I'm doing, spend upwards of an hour (if I'm lucky) trying to find 2-4 other people (depending on the difficulty of the quest) who also need to get it done. Once a group is finally formed the quest is hammered out in less than 5 minutes and I more than likely never see or speak to those people again. Dungeon groups are no different, especially with LFG. I don't remember the last time I've ever spoken to anyone in a dungeon group and it's rare to see anyone else say anything either.
Guilds, from my point of view, have always just been a necessary evil to ward against having to PUG and/or a requirement to raid. Maybe I've just been unlucky, but in my decade+ of online gaming I've been in maybe 2 good guilds. My experience is it takes a LOT of frog kissing to find a good group of people you actually enjoy socializing with, so we're back to grouping with others because you have to not because you particularly want to.
As far as that's concerned GW2 is perfect for someone like me. I am content doing my own thing with the rest of the world bustling about around me, much like real life. I don't feel the need to interact with everyone I come across on some deeper level and, as I've said, I hate when that's forced upon me to experience game content.
This depends entirely on what type of gamer you are. I recently hit 80 on my ranger. Reaching max level is usually the death sentence for my characters because in any other game there is nothing to do except raid or PvP, or I suppose do dailies (yay -_-). Instead, I find myself still as interested in playing as when I started. I've only 40% map completion. There are still a ton of zones, events, etc. I've yet to do. I still haven't finished my personal storyline. Then again, questing and exploration are two of my favorite things to do, so I guess to anyone that's the type to rush to max level and start doing "end game" then GW2 probably isn't for you.
Sounds like just bad experiences on your part, tbh.
The difference is in GW2 those other people are for the most part 100% inconsequential to your advancement, completion or progression. The hook of cooperative gameplay is predicated on needing to work together. From Everquest to The Old Republic.
The impulse to "solo alongside" others is most assuredly not one classically in line with MMOs conceptually.
It will drop even more with the current "pve" in gw2. Need a raid or atleast some intresting pve content. Also the game has no sub fee so ppl just come and go whenever they like. They dont have the feeling they need to login to get their moneys worth out of it. So they come and go, that's how I see it atleast. There isn't that much competitive gameplay either atm
Eh, I can't speak for overall populations. My playtime dwindled quite a bit after hitting 80, and some of the guardian changes that came along pretty much neutered my interest in the class. Haven't logged on since phase 2 of the Halloween event, and really haven't even thought about it at all.
I feel that I got my money's worth out of the game, and will drop back in when properly motivated, maybe to level something else up. It's a game that does a lot right, and a good amount not-so-right.