Colin Johanson on Guild Wars 2 in the Months Ahead (2013)

[zito]

Anet is slowly giving more rewards out for everything instead of fractals. It's just a slow process. Daily's will seem manditory till they release their other reward systems.

And you know give Lost shores a fucking purpose.

[Zeek Daniels]

Anet is slowly giving more rewards out for everything instead of fractals. It's just a slow process. Daily's will seem manditory till they release their other reward systems.

And you know give Lost shores a fucking purpose.

i wouldnt say manditory since you complete most of you dailys just buy doing things in the world each day.

[Durzlla]

The part where you say about noticing the each race has their own sort of fighting style I totally agree, but I think it's pretty safe to assume that none of those styles are really a thread no matter how they do it, the thing that will bring you down is 90% of the time a super strong hit that you missed to dodge (I'll totally disregard rushing thru map and aggroing everyone).

I agree that Risen and Skritt are supposed to be dealt with in a large amount but that's where it fails in concept. Yes they are bringing the density in the maps a little more but only because it's just a pain in the ass to have no breath room and has nothing to do with difficulty or anything like that (just before anyone brings that up XD). The zombies seems to be strategically positioned off each other and besides when I'm just running thru it's pretty rare to actually get a chain reaction of pulls (if any really). Sure if you dodge and keep kiting it away you are going to call one of 2 more but that's far from the "fighting a large amount". I would even "dare" to say that the areas where the density is a bit bigger it seems to be designed for groups that rarely go there anyways and if you go (as I did) going carefully is the way to go of course but generally for the aware of radius and surroundings, the enemies itself are really...blend. Same goes to skritt, besides events I always see them in maybe pairs, rarely trios. And they never where a thread, never.

I'm talking more in the lines of a trade-off in difficulty. Why not have a pack of zombies tight that you will encounter like that and designed to be like that. Also if they can chill, use some necro stuff and so on, wouldn't be too bad to give them a bit more power overall. Same with Skritt. I'm talking more in the lines of little adds togheter type of combat if they are supposed to be like that. Anywhere else, Ettins, Dredge or anything really. They could just have a bit more selection of skills that can counter/make you work a bit more. Why can't bandits dodge YOU as well? Heal themselves if needed (not always, appreciate that what I'm saying is not "I want more difficulty" kinda of deal).

In the end I just think that the balance is one sided. We have 15 skills (possibly more), The class mechanic (initiative, life force, etc), gear, the build itself, the traits you can choose, runes, sigils AND dodge. I feel like the Depth of the combat could be transfered a bit to the other side, make it a bit more alive, maybe how it was in gw1?

Do you understand what Im saying? Or do I sound too crazy lol.

If you're saying "instead of having Orr as is decrease the overall amount of zombies but pack them the other ones closely together so you have to fight them in packs" then yes that's awesome.

And Ettins are rough on my mesmer, they take quite a bit of effort for me to take them down because they knock my illusions out soooo easily... And dredges mechanic is kinda weird and awesome due to them being blind most wont agro for a while, but once combat starts all the miners run over to kill you and if you kill one of the guards they'll pick up the fallen guards weapon and fight in their place (god i love that mechanic).

And you clearly don't fight bandits very often... because not only do bandits use the steal skill but they also use the dodge mechanic, -and- a few of them can also back stab you which HURTS LIKE A BITCH! being a ranger i didn't realize the backstab mechanic until i was fighting a good army of bandits on my ele the otehr day xD.

As for the give them more skills omg, i absolutely agree, i think every mob should have AT LEAST 6 skills, and then the more beastly of the mobs (lets just say veterans for the sake of simplicity) should have a full on set of 10, including a sort of "elite" skill that's for that type of mob (IE all beastly trolls would have the same elite, all bandits would have same, all skritt would have the same etc).

As for the "class" Mechanic it seems every race has one, dredge pick up their fallen comrades weapons, skritt call for help (and use environmental weapons, one of those bastards hit me over the head with my own pigs bone!), bandits steal and dodge, Centaur trample, etc.

[Zilong]

If you're saying "instead of having Orr as is decrease the overall amount of zombies but pack them the other ones closely together so you have to fight them in packs" then yes that's awesome.

And Ettins are rough on my mesmer, they take quite a bit of effort for me to take them down because they knock my illusions out soooo easily... And dredges mechanic is kinda weird and awesome due to them being blind most wont agro for a while, but once combat starts all the miners run over to kill you and if you kill one of the guards they'll pick up the fallen guards weapon and fight in their place (god i love that mechanic).

And you clearly don't fight bandits very often... because not only do bandits use the steal skill but they also use the dodge mechanic, -and- a few of them can also back stab you which HURTS LIKE A BITCH! being a ranger i didn't realize the backstab mechanic until i was fighting a good army of bandits on my ele the otehr day xD.

As for the give them more skills omg, i absolutely agree, i think every mob should have AT LEAST 6 skills, and then the more beastly of the mobs (lets just say veterans for the sake of simplicity) should have a full on set of 10, including a sort of "elite" skill that's for that type of mob (IE all beastly trolls would have the same elite, all bandits would have same, all skritt would have the same etc).

As for the "class" Mechanic it seems every race has one, dredge pick up their fallen comrades weapons, skritt call for help (and use environmental weapons, one of those bastards hit me over the head with my own pigs bone!), bandits steal and dodge, Centaur trample, etc.

Yeah, that's what I meant as one of the solutions.

Even tho Ettins do make big hits I don't think I ever had a problem with one even on my mesmer. I mean, sure they take illusions down but even for a shatterer build the other sources of attacks (no matter how mild) should be more than enough (thus leaving not much of a challenge). I agree with you and I think the game has done something that I have rarely seem before. The mechanics of each race shows and it's really awesome and fun, now they just need to be challenging (Sure there are times where everything in the universe collides on you and you are in a rough situation with 10 dredges drilling your skull but it's somewhat rare and again what I'm saying is just bump it up a little when that doesn't happen).

I've played 528 hours so far, I can honestly say I have never seen a bandit use dodge so much that later on I'll go kill some of them and check that out. Regardless of them having or not what I meant is "a better use" of those mechanics. Yeah they steal (never seen they backstab tho or dodge) but they could tune it to where everyone sees it. You are doing a super combo and then they dodge, or stealth and you feel lost and such. Bosses fights should have much less HP (cause it sucks) and have them dodge, and make them dodge "often". Because for me using combo just for chunks of hp is shitty combat mode, missing a combo because he dodge or realizing he will dodge and better manage my combos are much nicer.

Yep, just give them fucking skills already. I want them actually erasing my conditions without me reading below the name "Chills" and think "Oh well, this guy will do nothing". I agree the same for elite skills and such. Of course I don't expect them to script enemy by enemy but at I don't think providing with these features with reasoning (mirroring 3 types and all, using what we even have as skills, veterans maybe having some that we can't have) is not impossible not to mention the fact that I feel it would be very worth it.

Yeah as I said each race does have their characteristics, I just wish they were also challenging because of them and not because of the huge health pool and 1 hard hitting skill.

[Deleted]

Anet is slowly giving more rewards out for everything instead of fractals. It's just a slow process. Daily's will seem manditory till they release their other reward systems.

And you know give Lost shores a fucking purpose.

Looking back at their manifesto: "no grind".
Oh sweet irony.

[Zilong]

Looking back at their manifesto: "no grind".
Oh sweet irony.

Indeed. Sweeeeeeet irony. You have no idea.

[Durzlla]

Looking back at their manifesto: "no grind".
Oh sweet irony.

Nah, they said grind isn't mandatory, which it isn't, you don't need to grind for exotics if you craft them yourself (really easy to get matts from just playing), it's getting the special skins and that they said you'd have to grind for, these would be special skins and thus the grind makes sense...

---------- Post added 2013-01-20 at 02:48 PM ----------

Yeah, that's what I meant as one of the solutions.

Even tho Ettins do make big hits I don't think I ever had a problem with one even on my mesmer. I mean, sure they take illusions down but even for a shatterer build the other sources of attacks (no matter how mild) should be more than enough (thus leaving not much of a challenge). I agree with you and I think the game has done something that I have rarely seem before. The mechanics of each race shows and it's really awesome and fun, now they just need to be challenging (Sure there are times where everything in the universe collides on you and you are in a rough situation with 10 dredges drilling your skull but it's somewhat rare and again what I'm saying is just bump it up a little when that doesn't happen).

I've played 528 hours so far, I can honestly say I have never seen a bandit use dodge so much that later on I'll go kill some of them and check that out. Regardless of them having or not what I meant is "a better use" of those mechanics. Yeah they steal (never seen they backstab tho or dodge) but they could tune it to where everyone sees it. You are doing a super combo and then they dodge, or stealth and you feel lost and such. Bosses fights should have much less HP (cause it sucks) and have them dodge, and make them dodge "often". Because for me using combo just for chunks of hp is shitty combat mode, missing a combo because he dodge or realizing he will dodge and better manage my combos are much nicer.

Yep, just give them fucking skills already. I want them actually erasing my conditions without me reading below the name "Chills" and think "Oh well, this guy will do nothing". I agree the same for elite skills and such. Of course I don't expect them to script enemy by enemy but at I don't think providing with these features with reasoning (mirroring 3 types and all, using what we even have as skills, veterans maybe having some that we can't have) is not impossible not to mention the fact that I feel it would be very worth it.

Yeah as I said each race does have their characteristics, I just wish they were also challenging because of them and not because of the huge health pool and 1 hard hitting skill.

Well as i said it's only one type of bandit that backstabs (the ones with 2 daggers), as for the evade they don't use it intelligently, they'll just randomly evade away which is kinda disappointing, and as for the Ettins, 1 ettin isn't an issue (it takes for fucking ever because they rape my illusions), it's when i start pulling 2-4 which is quite common in ettin caves... screw those things!

I agree though, they should drop the health a lot more and give them a lot more evades so you can't get your "1337 dmg combo!" over and over again. As for the skills, i think it should be like in GW1 where they use skills the profs actually use for a VAST MAJORITY of the mobs (obviously there will be some that use different moves, and some mobs have moves that aren't available for the professions), it'd give them access to more skills, and make the mobs as a lot more dangerous.

I personally don't think world mobs have a lot of health, it's more of the NPCs in instances that have to much health...

[Deleted]

Nah, they said grind isn't mandatory, which it isn't,

I love circle jerk logic. "They said it isn't, so it really isn't, because they said so."
So there is no grind, because it isn't mandatory, because they said so.

[Fencers]

Only Fractals require gear grinding.

[Durzlla]

I love circle jerk logic. "They said it isn't, so it really isn't, because they said so."
So there is no grind, because it isn't mandatory, because they said so.

It's not circle logic, they flat out said if you just want the best gear you wont need to grind, which i sure as hell haven't grinded yet i'm in full exotics, however if you want gear that looks really cool you'll need to grind, which you REALLY do need to...

It's not because "they said so" it's because you flat out don't need to. Trust me, if they said "Oh you don't need to grind to get good gear!" and then i had to grind to get good gear like i do in fucking WoW i'd be up in arms and burning down their head quarters by now, i only have ~9hrs a week during normal weeks that i can play, so i'm not going to waste my time grinding for some extra bull shit stats.

[Deleted]

It's not circle logic, they flat out said if you just want the best gear you wont need to grind, which i sure as hell haven't grinded yet i'm in full exotics, however if you want gear that looks really cool you'll need to grind, which you REALLY do need to...

It's not because "they said so" it's because you flat out don't need to. Trust me, if they said "Oh you don't need to grind to get good gear!" and then i had to grind to get good gear like i do in fucking WoW i'd be up in arms and burning down their head quarters by now, i only have ~9hrs a week during normal weeks that i can play, so i'm not going to waste my time grinding for some extra bull shit stats.

Full exotics cost me something like 15g and 42k Karma.
And yet the grind is there, unlike what they said, if it's mandatory or not, that's just semantics.

[Valeron]

Full exotics cost me something like 15g and 42k Karma.
And yet the grind is there, unlike what they said, if it's mandatory or not, that's just semantics.

Do you think that is a grind? Honest question.

I've played games like Lineage 2, and even Aion. If you call this a grind, I'd hate to see what you call those games.

[Meledelion]

Full exotics cost me something like 15g and 42k Karma.
And yet the grind is there, unlike what they said, if it's mandatory or not, that's just semantics.

Someone doesn't know what a grind is...

[Zilong]

Well as i said it's only one type of bandit that backstabs (the ones with 2 daggers), as for the evade they don't use it intelligently, they'll just randomly evade away which is kinda disappointing, and as for the Ettins, 1 ettin isn't an issue (it takes for fucking ever because they rape my illusions), it's when i start pulling 2-4 which is quite common in ettin caves... screw those things!

I personally don't think world mobs have a lot of health, it's more of the NPCs in instances that have to much health...

Yeah, I've never pulled too much unless I wanted even with the ranger where I would try to get behind the mob often to get some bleeds going. But anyways yeah, I really vote for packs of them here and there and then the single people around too. Maybe some more pats around, not so static (that's how I remember anyways).

And yeah of course the lot of health is not the single zombie, they have too little at times. But that's also something that takes away the fun since they don't have what we are already discussing here. If they did, they would be challenging regardless of HP. And same goes with events actually, less hp more depth would be awesome.

Full exotics cost me something like 15g and 42k Karma.
And yet the grind is there, unlike what they said, if it's mandatory or not, that's just semantics.

There are multiple ways of getting what you want, and that's a fact. And even so nothing is really mandatory to any content. The only "gated" content is really Fractals on high levels where a certain type of gear is needed, which means you need to grind it. But I don't think that by doing those high levels you get anything more than doing the first level or that introduced "new content either, so you do it because you like it.

But I'm thinking you buy a game because you want to play it, even single players with different choices make you save points to spend on them. And on guild wars by just playing it you get 15g and 42k karma in a blink of an eye. Hell those Karma jugs give me so much karma that I can't spend enough (in fact I can gear all my characters cause it's account bound). Simply putting all content in-game is available to you with no grind, sure if you want something cool (and still needless) you can work for it and truth is alot will do it happily. Those who don't do it just commit to it for the reward (again, unnecessary one)

So no. It's not semantics. And for you to actually say it's jerk logic ...proves of how much you play elsewhere...
It's fine if you don't like the designs, the game and whatever else. It's your opinion and is valid. But I truly think that this game does well for the no-grind design compared to others in the market. (I'm not that close to the TSW so I can't remember about it).

[Deleted]

Do you think that is a grind? Honest question.

I've played games like Lineage 2, and even Aion. If you call this a grind, I'd hate to see what you call those games.

I have indeed played Lineage 2 extensively.

Someone doesn't know what a grind is...

I do hope you can enlighten me. Unless it has anything to do with pelvic movement.

[Maarius]

You can get exotic gear for
-) WvW badges
-) Dungeon tokens
-) Karma
-) Gold
-) Crafting
-) Recommendations (?) (the NPC was taken out for the moment but will be back for a month, until we get some replacement I guess)

for me grind is doing the same activity over and over again and again and again.
so now you can do this to get your best gear:

-) WvW badges: play WvW, kill player + you get tons of karma for capping towers/camps etc.
-) Dungeon tokens: play dungeons + you get karma + enough gold if you know what to sell
-) Karma: play anywhere in the PvE-world, you can even go to lower zones you haven't seen before, since Karma-rewards scale to your level.
-) Karma2: or you do the daily-achievements - which most of the time are done by just playing PvE --> Karmajug = massive amount of karma
-) Karma3: WvW - just run around with the zerg for a short time or cap the small camps with a few people. Personally I love stealing Dolyaks from camps when I'm not good enough to wipe out the camp on my own. These animals have quite a nice amount of karma with them ^^
-) Gold: play the trading post (tons of gold in a short time), sell your loot, sell mats you got... anywhere in the game,...
-) Crafting: craft some stuff + you get tons of XP --> fast leveling, a lot of skillpoints (--> currency for legendary- and WvW-stuff)
-) when the NPC is back you can give them your recommendations (currency is created by your trash-loot in the mystic forge)

-) I forgot trading of course, got a few pieces from my guildies they can't wear. They got those from Map-completion of lv.80 zones.

so practically you can play the game in a huge variety of activities in order to get Exotics. You don't have to grind events in zone xy only to get your gear. If you still do, then I'd say it's your own fault.

[woodydave44]

Except in an endgame based on cosmetics, getting the cooler looking armor or weapon you may want will require a grind.

A grind exists. You are not forced to do it to be on par with others, but its still there. I think thats what he was getting at.

Proof: See Legendary weapons.

[Karizee]

People seem to consistently misunderstand the stated stance on grinding, or purposely take it out of context. This is what Mike O'Brien said:

"Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs."

[Mormolyce]

I don’t even know what a Chauncey von Snuffles III is, but I want one.

I don't even play GW2 and I want one!

[Durzlla]

I don't even play GW2 and I want one!

I think I'll laugh myself to tears if you buy the game just to get one xD