Does anyone else think that combat abilites suck in this game?

[Durzlla]

You mean the bugged dragon that just hangs around? Yeah, that was interesting as all heck.

Oh wait, no, you just meant he was prettier. Ok, we can argue art, but lets not confuse it with encounter design and gameplay.

So much hyperbole goes on in these threads.



Seriously? If you want to play the oversimplification game, we can do that in spades for GW2.

"Kite, kite, kite, kite, kite, pew pew, kite more, kite some more, kite, pew pew pew pew some more (7 minutes later) yay, we killed it."

What fight did I just describe? ALL OF THEM. <3

Actually he's unbugged now, I haven't done it bugged.

[rhinomatic]

I would like for some weapons to have some more interesting options, but all in all I like the combat system in GW2. It's far more engaging than other games I have played (in that it's the first game I've played that I can't really eat or watch TV at the same time without screwing up bad).

[Durzlla]

Well you and the poster bellow you failed to understand my point, DW sucked balls, it was a horrible encounter, and no Zhaitan wasn't more interesting...bout the same amount of boring only prettier.

TBH i wasn't even thinking of wow when comparing encounter designs, but more dark souls/ darksiders2/ even amalur since those are more in line with what gw2 is.

IMO if zhaitan and other such bosses were like dark/demon Soul fights this game would be so successful in my mind I doubt I'd play another game... And have you done zhaitan recently? Because he actually has some mechanics, which IMO makes him more interesting then DW, when all zhaitan did was hump the tower and get pelted by pixie dust yes, he was on DW lv, that's just my opinion though...

PS: thanks to you I really wanna play dark/demon souls now...

[BlairPhoenix]

WoW and GW2's combat are different yes. I don't see why either side feels the need to say one is better than the other though. Just because you don't like how something works doesn't mean it's a bad system.

[Icecx]

I feel much more involved in GW2 than I did in WoW. Sure, I use only a few abilities. But a lot of those are situational, while the others help in combat to beat the opponent but also have some other uses. The ability combos and maneuvering and staying alive make for a more chaotic (though controllable) battle system. Something I like very much.

[parcus]

No, this is flat out false for many professions and weapons choices. The on by default auto-attack is the highest and most consistent means of damage. Such that many skill rotations in Guild Wars 2 are intended to bolster the auto attack.

For example a mainhand sword Ranger or Warrior are doing it right by letting their auto-attack run. They lose damage by using other abilities.

Of course it isn't false, there are many things that are much more important than maxing dps in this game, buffing allies, blinding, CC, stunning (this works as interrupts too), crippling, and some more things I don't remember now. He is absolutely right when he says the person who only auto-attacks is doing something wrong.

[cywang86]

The person I quoted said players are "doing it wrong" by "sitting back auto attacking a mob to death". I specifically quoted the part I wanted to address. I don't really have to even address that user, per se but the statement. That statement is false for many weapon kits.

Also not theoretical- this is how the kits work for many classes. On the dummies or mobs, natch. Fighting a Risen Chicken doesn't change how the kits function.

I find it amusing that out of all the weapon combinations, you decided to choose 1h sword warrior/ranger when the warrior gets a gap closer, and cripple, while the ranger gets a gap widener/closer combo and a melee evade. Oh, and without mentioning the offhand choice, either.

There's always another attack that deals straight up more damage, or deal less but with additional boon/condition/utility effects.
If you really want to complain about having to just auto-atack to maximize your damage you shouldn't even be using a 1h weapon that has 2 skills designed for utility to begin with.

Yes, some of the skill combinations are less engaging than most (yes, not all of them) of the wow classes.
But the emphasis of the gw2 combat is not watching for procs, CDs, and dot timer.
It's covering your teammates while watching out for your own hide, and being able to swap your primary functions on the fly depending on what you're about to do.

And seriously, who the hell pulls just a risen chicken. Pulling 5+ mobs and coming out victorious is where the fun's at.

[Glytch]

No, this is flat out false for many professions and weapons choices. The on by default auto-attack is the highest and most consistent means of damage. Such that many skill rotations in Guild Wars 2 are intended to bolster the auto attack.

For example a mainhand sword Ranger or Warrior are doing it right by letting their auto-attack run. They lose damage by using other abilities.

caitlyn does more damage when you only auto w/ her but you dont see people saying her other skills are useless

[Fencers]

I find it amusing that out of all the weapon combinations, you decided to choose 1h sword warrior/ranger when the warrior gets a gap closer, and cripple, while the ranger gets a gap widener/closer combo and a melee evade. Oh, and without mentioning the offhand choice, either.

What relevance would the positional skills have to the application of damage?

The OP's premise is built on some skills having long cooldowns or simply being kept in reserve till needed. That is true for most weapon kits.

caitlyn does more damage when you only auto w/ her but you dont see people saying her other skills are useless

That is not a comparable analogy. Where have I suggested other skills are useless?

Think it through for a moment.

[barackopala]

GW2 is simply not designed around having a lot of complexity in the actual nuts and bolts of the gameplay. If you're going to deny that, you might as well deny that there are events in the game, they're both integral parts of the design. Before you go off on the knee-jerk responses, that's not a slam on the game, it's just the direction of the design.

PvP is based much more on your team strategy and setup than it is on the actual pushing of the buttons. PvE is...well, I don't know how to say it without sounding insulting, but PvE is more an interactive storybook than a game.

PvP is not as based on team setup as much as other MMO's... shammylockmage iirc was the only spec that won every tournament on WoW... sure there is strategy involved but claiming that setup matters too much in gw2... doubtful.

[barackopala]

I didn't say it mattered "too much". Just that setting up your team and having a strong strategy is the focus of PvP, much moreso than individual skill in the actual gameplay.

I still doubt it's required a team setup over the skill... I still remember in WoW seeing a lot of friends crarrying people to 2000 for some easy money, most of the time they only carried the ones who were "ideal for the setup" more than people who had a real skill.

[barackopala]

I...don't know why we're still talking about WoW arena?

Any other "successful" mmo you want to discuss?

[Deleted]

No other games have mesmers, so I prefer the combat in GW2

[kinetiks]

Some of you are forgetting that we get a whole extra weapon set that we can swap to mid combat. For example a Warrior can do 100 Blades, followed by a weapon swap to Eviscerate for maximum burst. The same warrior could just let his auto attack run or do whirlwind after his 100 Blades finished. On my Necro I like to use Locust Swarm, drop a well or two, swap to staff and lay down some marks for a quick aoe kill. Or I could start with Locust Swarm, drop a well, and pop into Death Shroud to use Life Transfer. I feel GW2 combat is much more multi-dimensional then WoW's combat. Just because you have less skills on your bar at one time, doesn't mean you have less options. I haven't played a Guardian yet, so I cannot offer advice on the class, but combat can be made more interesting if you want it to be.

[CowsThatType]

Oh, and without mentioning the offhand choice, either.
...
And seriously, who the hell pulls just a risen chicken. Pulling 5+ mobs and coming out victorious is where the fun's at.

the offhand weapon doesnt change what the auto attack does.

and 300 risen chickens doesnt change how auto stab works.

i use dual daggers on my thief, and yes the thrown offhand dagger in the 4 slot is very useful in many situations, but other than that, it is my ONLY straight out damage ability other than my auto attack -- which goes between four different stabby-stabs that do increasing damage and start over (doing the rotation part FOR you!!) and leaving the evading, kiting, healing, booning, and all the other junk up to you.... which means taking OUT the tedious part. combat is more about combat and less about faceroll. then theres the stealing that adds a WHOLE NEW ability that you dont know until you use it.

PvE is more an interactive storybook than a game.

i dont see a problem with this. the whole point of matching your level to the zone was to let you experience the whole game. that means experiencing the fights, the events, the hearts, the beautiful vistas, and the STORY of the zone...

in a way where it matters.
unlike in wow where players who returned to old zones for the nostalgia were weirdos, and players who returned to gank lowbies were cool.

Some of you are forgetting that we get a whole extra weapon set that we can swap to mid combat. For example a Warrior can do 100 Blades, followed by a weapon swap to Eviscerate for maximum burst. The same warrior could just let his auto attack run or do whirlwind after his 100 Blades finished. On my Necro I like to use Locust Swarm, drop a well or two, swap to staff and lay down some marks for a quick aoe kill. Or I could start with Locust Swarm, drop a well, and pop into Death Shroud to use Life Transfer. I feel GW2 combat is much more multi-dimensional then WoW's combat. Just because you have less skills on your bar at one time, doesn't mean you have less options. I haven't played a Guardian yet, so I cannot offer advice on the class, but combat can be made more interesting if you want it to be.

fo sho! and dont forget the four other abilities you get when your health is reduced to 0 and you go down to the floor! hao many buttonz do you pplz want!?

[Deleted]

So you do dps with your main skill and you use the others as situational spells... is that bad? WoW made you press 1-2-3-4-5-1 to do dps... not too exciting .-.

Do you remember mage awesome combat mechaninc in PvE? 1 button miracle...its sure damn exciting.. or auto dodge. Imo when i have played some new age morps. WoW´s rather old fighting system remembers me games like runescape. Dunno why thou..

[Yazeed]

PALLY1 u ganna meat many fanboys in this thread

any way

i think the whole combat system in gw2 is cheap and not cool when it come to PvP

[Deleted]

the offhand weapon doesnt change what the auto attack does.

and 300 risen chickens doesnt change how auto stab works.

i use dual daggers on my thief, and yes the thrown offhand dagger in the 4 slot is very useful in many situations, but other than that, it is my ONLY straight out damage ability other than my auto attack -- which goes between four different stabby-stabs that do increasing damage and start over (doing the rotation part FOR you!!) and leaving the evading, kiting, healing, booning, and all the other junk up to you.... which means taking OUT the tedious part. combat is more about combat and less about faceroll. then theres the stealing that adds a WHOLE NEW ability that you dont know until you use it.

I actually don't agree with this example.
I used to play with a dagger mainhand on my thief (before switching to sword) and besides auto-attack I used the nr. 2 skill a lot near the end of the fight.
Moreover, when your target is below 25% health, the nr. 2 skill beats auto-attack by a long stretch damage wise.
Admitted, other skills are more utility than damage (although leaping deathblossom came pretty damn close to being a high damage skill aswell), but the nr. 2 skill really became more viable, damage wise, near the end of the fight.

A thief weapon that in my opinion deals a lot of damage without using auto-attack is shortbow.
Cluster bomb damage easily does 3 times the auto-attack damage and choking gas deals a lot of residual damage through poison.
Both of them have pretty low energy costs aswell, which means that if you misplace a choking gas field, you can easily place another one at a better spot.
Ofcourse, field damage becomes a lot lower if you're fighting 1 on 1, but then again, who uses shortbow 1 on 1 anyways?
Well, I do, but just untill the opponents get close and then I switch to melee and really do damage.

Anyhow, what I'm trying to say here is that auto-attack isn't everything in this game.
I have played builds where auto-attack damage was dominant.
However, I have also played builds where non-auto-attack skills were the largest source of damage (pistol whip, a thief skill that recently got nerfed, was a good example of this).

The way damage is divided over your abilities in GW2 reminds me a lot of how damage is divided over abilties in WoW.
When I played my rogue in raids, auto-attack usually was number one in my recount damage list.
However, it never did more than 50% of my total damage, which meant that my other skills (and poisons aswell) did well over 50% damage.
The same applied to my other dps characters and I believe it also applies to GW2 combat.
Auto-attack deals a large chunk of damage, but it definitely isn't the only source of damage.

[Jovanaar]

I actually like not to press my face in the keyboard and having all my 50 abilities flying around like a mad roller coaster.

[Nachtlicht]

Just to give the OP some love and because I need some distraction after 5 bad matches in LoL : I dont like the combat system either. I really like smashing buttons actually, even more so when there's a rotation. The closest class/weapon combo I got off of that was Axe/Axe Warri cause you can just smash along! Still felt a little bit lucklaster, I don't know. I really wanted to like GW 2 but I miss healing too much which is also part of the combat system in a way. And the chance to maximize your output in general, GW 2 seems really inaccesible for that PvE wise, and I never ever used Meters in WoW. Weird, I know. My thoughts are confusing me right now. I will stop myself.
PS: I tried WoW combat some days ago on my trial account and it felt even more bleh. GW 2 what have you done to me?!?!