Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Borzo]

Most encounters were nerfed heavily for the demonstration, so people could actually see most of it and kill them.

I have a feeling when this game goes live and there are more players, bosses will be harder and do more stuff, since apparently they scale with the amount of players participating.

They do scale, I know that... but my fear is that big bosses will be more stationary than your average monster who at least runs around and chases you. This is counter-intuitive, since you'd think that a huge monster with so much power would do more than be just an aoe-turret and a big bulls-eye for players. The shatterer video shows a dragon standing around in a field stomping around, and this last video shows basically the same thing. The dragon destroyed a fort while making his appearance, so he's clearly mobile, fast, and powerful, but as soon as the fight starts he becomes a turret/target that doesn't move, and doesn't do much other than summon smaller monsters. He should use some of that power and be a little more "active".

[Borzo]

^ these kinds of bosses are like that because they are events not really mobs as such.

Yes, but you'd think a big boss with super-powers would use those powers. He can fly around and crush buildings... he should do that during the event, instead of just standing around. At least if there was some sort of mechanic that held him in place, it would make more sense: like a force-field beam from the Asura laser or something. It's just hard to see why something so strong, like that dragon, has to act so weak.

Just a minor complaint, obviously, but I couldn't help but notice that it was a bit odd that in the 2 videos both dragons just stood around.

[Odeezee]

A couple of friends of mine are going to get GW2 too. Now, I want to play a Charr. A other friend wants to play a human, and the other one wants to play a different race as well. Are we able to play all together after a short period of time? ( I understand every race has it's own starting zone that's probably inaccessable to other races )

I don't want to finish half the game on my own before I can group up with my friends to quest, just because they picked a different race / storyline / whatever.

after the tutorial area of your respective races you guys can band together. so basically after level 2.

Its hard to explain >.>

Some small things like the movement, spell effects and spell sounds that bother me.

There is also a boss that should be an extremely vicious creature but instead he just stands there throwing some abilities and a few melee attacks. He is massive and all but I couldn't feel the "ooh dangerous monster"

to me the movement seems decent. not amazing but better than average. the spell effects are good but they could be toned down a little so that your screen doesn't look like a mash up of colors which will become more marked during mass pvp and pve encounters. yeah, some of the sounds don't match what you would naturally expect from them like the fire sounds an Ele has, but here's hoping a player invite beta takes care of all that.

i too would like the bosses to move, but only in a given area so people cannot kite the boss away and grief other players. also if the do decide NOT to make the bosses more mobile and to have them actually attack more dynamically, etc, the least the can do is allow the bosses to dynamically use their wings defensively like to block projectiles and maybe even attack (like going into the air and flapping their wings to blow gusts of air that stun/knockback/etc) and they should definitely use their tails offensively.

[Mothhive]

Yes, but you'd think a big boss with super-powers would use those powers. He can fly around and crush buildings... he should do that during the event, instead of just standing around. At least if there was some sort of mechanic that held him in place, it would make more sense: like a force-field beam from the Asura laser or something. It's just hard to see why something so strong, like that dragon, has to act so weak.

Just a minor complaint, obviously, but I couldn't help but notice that it was a bit odd that in the 2 videos both dragons just stood around.

The reason it doesn't work "realistically" is because it's just a game and is meant to be fun. Having a giant monster appear, squish everyone to death in seconds and nom on their mushy bodies wouldn't be particularly fun!

I do see what you're saying though, but I don't think it's feasable to implement it in a game. Besides, if you start analyzing everything logically, no games make sense. Why didn't Deathwing just eat the tank standing right infront of him? Why doesn't mario have concussion? Is it safe for Pac Man to pop so many pills? :P

If you still want to try and think about it logically, maybe the Dragon is overconfident and is just toying with the players, like a kid sitting on the floor squashing bugs with his fingers, or burning them with a magnifying glass?

[Deleted]

I dunno if it makes any sense, but didn't they say those little things throwing players around were the dragon's fingers? So he'd need to be standing still to be able to make his fingers grow through the ground or whatever he does ( he should get his nails cut :P ). At least, in my head, that's the way I try to explain the lack of movement from this particular boss.

[Sapho]

I do understand about the massive monsters doing bugger all . . . seems to be in most mmos to be honest.

I'd love to see an encounter that wasn't afraid of movement. Just an idea:

- this event ONLY triggers if there are minimum 20 players
- giant dragon
- it moves right through the zone. It both pursues players, and attempts to evade turrets. So let's say it starts by appearing over the city where you are. Maybe you drive it away with canons, or maybe you actually manage to lure it away from the city by making it pursue you (maybe because you are doing so much damage).

Obviously it would still need to be a bit limited. The reason I make the number of players huge is that you would probably need a broad range of skills and enough players spread out that it can't one-shot the whole group.

I think Anet and GW2 would actually be really well positioned to do this. One problem with dragons is, if they make use of the fact they can fly, all your melee are suddenly pissed off. But GW2 is heavy on interactive items (canons etc.) AND each class has at least some ranged abilities. If Anet really achieve what they talk about, a dragon that spends say 40% of the time airborne should be defeatable by 20 warriors.

[Deleted]

i dunno, these big bosses moving around...im always thinking about me fighting vs ants. i wouldnt move arount much, just do some smashes on the ground. you cant really hit an ant moving around like a crazy ape, cause you know, you would pump out so much energy that you cant hold their attacks after a while. there are plenty of these examples in our normal nature...or am i wrong?^^

[Borzo]

i dunno, these big bosses moving around...im always thinking about me fighting vs ants. i wouldnt move arount much, just do some smashes on the ground. you cant really hit an ant moving around like a crazy ape, cause you know, you would pump out so much energy that you cant hold their attacks after a while. there are plenty of these examples in our normal nature...or am i wrong?^^

Nah you're not wrong, it makes sense. Would be nice to have the dragon come over to the turrets/canons though, and step on a few people every now-and-then, or maybe hit them with some poison clouds. Or the Shatterer could fly over to the "safe zone in the back" and set everyone on fire or something every now and then, just so that no one feels truly in a "safe zone".

[Chronius]

The big question remains: Elementalist or Necromancer ? (Perhaps mesmer?)

[Deleted]

The big question remains: Elementalist or Necromancer ? (Perhaps mesmer?)

Elementalist, the effects are so beautiful I just got hooked

[Ashar]

Yes, but you'd think a big boss with super-powers would use those powers. He can fly around and crush buildings... he should do that during the event, instead of just standing around. At least if there was some sort of mechanic that held him in place, it would make more sense: like a force-field beam from the Asura laser or something. It's just hard to see why something so strong, like that dragon, has to act so weak.

Just a minor complaint, obviously, but I couldn't help but notice that it was a bit odd that in the 2 videos both dragons just stood around.

Look at raid bosses in WoW. How often they move form their tanking spot (I know in GW2 there will be no tanks and bla bla)? Usually they just stand like log in the middle of chamber/lair so ppl can spread around and do their stuff, an nobody cares why Saurfang is not cleaving whole raid with single slash. If they just ran around and destroy everything around, because obviously they are almighty raid bosses, they would be unkillable.

Even better argument: bigass dragon is not going to follow single tiny dot somewhere in distance. If it throws some silly magic balls on him, he can just sent his minions, or deep breath on him and everyone around to kill him, if there's a big danger (Asura canon let's say) set a big defensive wall or fly up in the air. That's exactly what we saw in presentation at gamescom :P

So to be honest, I feel like GW2 bosses, where holy trinity is no factor, are way more realistic encounters than WoW raids.

P.S.I really hope that there will be no specific timers on boss abilities and they will just react on players actions. The thing that annoyed me in WoW was the fact that there was DBM or a leader with DBM who announced "Okay guys, defile in 5 sec, spread out" and whole fight is more like watching timers, and dodging predictable abilities, while keeping nuke/heaing.

[Borzo]

Look at raid bosses in WoW. How often they move form their tanking spot (I know in GW2 there will be no tanks and bla bla)? Usually they just stand like log in the middle of chamber/lair so ppl can spread around and do their stuff, an nobody cares why Saurfang is not cleaving whole raid with single slash. If they just ran around and destroy everything around, because obviously they are almighty raid bosses, they would be unkillable.

Even better argument: bigass dragon is not going to follow single tiny dot somewhere in distance. If it throws some silly magic balls on him, he can just sent his minions, or deep breath on him and everyone around to kill him, if there's a big danger (Asura canon let's say) set a big defensive wall or fly up in the air. That's exactly what we saw in presentation at gamescom :P

So to be honest, I feel like GW2 bosses, where holy trinity is no factor, are way more realistic encounters than WoW raids.

P.S. I was a raider for over 3 years in semi hardcore guild and left that game immediatly when I saw GW2 dynamic events

The fact that a raid boss in WOW doesn't go immediately to kill the DPS and healers, and focuses on a "tank" that is "taunting" it, throws any sense of immersion out the window.

I understand that the GW2 dragon bosses aren't gonna chase down a little Asura midget, but somehow I get the feeling that the big bosses are just summoners that summon actual monster to kill, while the boss himself doesn't do too much other than short-range AOEs.

I mean... what threatening and offensive ability do these 2 dragon bosses do, exactly? I'd like it if they at least pretended to be threatening by flying around and wreaking a bit of havoc, especially on the massive amount of artillery that is apparently out of range in a "safe zone".

[Ashar]

I mean... what threatening and offensive ability do these 2 dragon bosses do, exactly? I'd like it if they at least pretended to be threatening by flying around and wreaking a bit of havoc, especially on the massive amount of artillery that is apparently out of range in a "safe zone".

Their abilities depends on this, how much ppl are taking part in the event. More people = more abilities. Let's say it starts with deep breath and claws attack. Then wing buffet comes, then tail whip, then fear (with epic roar or something like that), then calling adds (a few or swarm who just rape everything around) who are attacking players around and artillery you mentioned (defending that positions plays crucial role in delivering kill to the boss). If you want better info, just watch that 2 dragon fights with commenting of one of designers.

[Borzo]

Their abilities depends on this, how much ppl are taking part in the event. More people = more abilities. Let's say it starts with deep breath and claws attack. Then wing buffet comes, then tail whip, then calling adds (a few or swarm who just rape everything around) who are attacking artillery you mentioned (defending that positions plays crucial role in delivering kill to the boss). If you want better info, just watch that 2 dragon fights with commenting of one of designers.

I've watched the dragon fights, and I understand the scaling mechanic.

My problem is the very specific issue that the dragon does not move. If scaling incorporates increasing movement, then fine, but I have yet to see a dev commentary that has confirmed this.

[Verdalas]

So alongside my decision for a Norn Thief and a Sylvari Elementalist, I'm stuck on a decision on what profession to play my Charr (which I'll be on most of the time, hopefully for RP too).

At the moment I'm stuck between warrior or ranger. Appearance is a big thing to me and I want my Charr to look impressive, so I'm leaning towards warrior because of the heavy armour. However, I'm also leant towards ranger because that was my original profession in GW1 and I love pet classes. So I'm not sure which to go for..

Does anyone happen to have any further details on the kinds of ranger pet in GW2 yet? Aside from the wiki.

[Masternewt]

Is there any prediction or estimation about the release of Guild Wars 2 at this point? What's the guess-timate on the fan streets these days?

[Deleted]

My guess is April (could maybe even fit with a gw1 birthday)... +- 1/2 months? (more + than -)

/me shrugs

[Deleted]

Really hope it's around February tops

[Ashar]

I've watched the dragon fights, and I understand the scaling mechanic.

My problem is the very specific issue that the dragon does not move. If scaling incorporates increasing movement, then fine, but I have yet to see a dev commentary that has confirmed this.

I don't know about it, but at that two fights we could see, there was not many space for their movement tbh. They flew up to the air, but I'm afraid their movement is limited to event area, which is usually >= dragon size. Maybe there will be fights when we actually have to catch and immobilize boss with some harpoons or magic binds or anything before real fight starts, or fights with bosses who just move around and smash everything around (like Lord Ryolith in Fireladns), who knows, it's hard to predict over 1500 dynamic events with seeing only few of them. It's like watching Flame Leviathan video and be like "oh man, we gonna kill all bosses in mounts, that just sux!".

[Borzo]

Really hope it's around February tops

Yeah I'm pretty sure February isn't gonna happen. Educated guesses are more around April/May.