Asum.4960

> @"Fueki.4753" said: > > @"Cyninja.2954" said: > > Even IF raids are hard, wouldn't having that kind of group content be a good thing? You know for having people play the game long term? > > What the point of spending 10% to 15% of your resources on content less than 1% of the player will ever attempt? > Those resources would better be spent on content that more people might play. > Except Raids were made by ~1% of the company, and had Efficiency completion rates as high as 30% early on when Raids where still properly supported with frequent releases and promised a future for players to get into that content. Which also happens to be a higher rate than what some later LW story completions had on Efficiency. And sure, Raids dropped to <5% participation later on (which while still reasonable for high end content, especially one produced by just a handful people, isn't fantastic), but that's not really surprising with maybe one Raid Wing a year just not being enough to sustain that community. Plus, if 2019 revenue and it's staggering record drops has shown us anything, it's that LW and Story, which they almost entirely focused on that year, is absolutely not what is carrying the game. That's why designing by statistics is a sure way to fail at making games. Just because most people play something like LW, simply because hey it's there and it takes about nothing to do so, doesn't mean that it's what most people are actually there for. Just because something like Raids isn't played by the majority, because it does take "a lot" to do so, doesn't mean that it doesn't attract a great deal of players to the game and can serve as motivation for long term engagement for players to get to and experience some day. So not only are your stats backwards, they are also largely useless or at the very least deceptive in how they more often than not go counter to good game design. Sure you can have 0.01% of the company (one dev) make some really, really poor and unfun content that is incredibly rewarding and get absolutely fantastic engagement numbers of >80% as everybody wants the quick easy rewards, but if that's all you release then because stats tell you it's a great idea, you are going to kill your game quicker than you can blink with bored players who got everything and have nothing to do. Endgame content doesn't need to boast majority numbers to be healthy for a game, be it for advertisement, carrot/inspiration for existing players wishing to get there, or for trickle down of innovative and engaging design and tech to the more generic and basic content, at least adding some variety to that and keeping the rest of the game fresh as well, as we've seen with Raids in GW2 repeatedly.

I actually currently have a very different opinion on this from what I've seen reading this thread, and that's that I think every profession should have some minor boon strip somewhere. Why? because that's really the only way I see Anet ever being able to make boons a fundamental part of PvE design. Retaliation on mobs for example, which can kill a player in literally (3-5) seconds in PvE if they have a couple of rolling damage effects stacked (like Guardian Symbols, Ele Fields), could be a really interesting tool for Anet to play with to make open world, story and such a lot less brainless - having to watch out for such effects and react quickly with counterplay, while also really only being punishing for already proficient players with good damage rotations, aka the players most bored and not catered to by that content currently. But as long as some professions just don't have any counterplay available to that and simply won't be able to fight those mobs (and no, I don't think expecting people to swap to a weapon with a Sigil of Nullification for every mob with a vital boon to remove that they might encounter is reasonable), that can't be done well. I do think Necro's (Spellbreakers, etc.), somewhat themed around that with Corruptions, should be one of the few specs actually benefitting from boon removal beyond just removing the boon, as well as be needed for sustained/heavy boon removal needs, but unless every class at least very sporadically has access to some/one, boons can't ever be that staple feature in PvE that they are imo supposed to be. PvE could be drastically more interesting if some mobs just had certain boons, or skills applying certain boons, but right now facing a mob with perma Protection for example would just be a spongy annoyance for most classes, rather than an interesting mechanical interaction rewarding players for build craft and awareness. I want to see some mobs going into a rage, applying 25 Might and Quickness and being genuinely dangerous unless quickly stripped of that, other's shield themselves or just come with Protection, others's taking on a defensive stance, or with creative mob design - covering themselves in spikes or such and getting Retaliation, some mob types that keep running around while having Swiftness, but become snared once removed etc. Clear visual cues with interesting and rewarding counterplay, and the systems for that are all in place since launch to never be properly utilised. As for concerns about "theme", that's imo the weakest argument imaginable, as just about everything can be themed right with some creativity, be it a Guardian smiting boons off enemies with holy wrath or cleansing fire, a Elementalist burning them off or draining them with arcane energies, a Revenant eating them as Mallyx, a Mesmer disenchanting, a Necro corrupting, a Warrior Spellbreaking, a Thief stealing, an Engineer using alchemical concoctions, or a Ranger taming a boon eating pet, or enchanting one to do so with cleansing nature magic, theme really never should or needs to stay in the way of interesting gameplay and mechanics, if done reasonably. To reiterate though, I do not wish everything to be loaded with Boon removal, absolutely not, and I do think boon strip on auto attacks, like is the case for Mesmer, absolutely needs to go for this mechanic to ever be remotely interesting as active mechanical choice, along with most if not all accidental/passive sources. But I truly think that with every profession having some active boonstrip in their core kit, no matter how minor, that could have allowed Anet to straight up revolutionize PvE in terms of mob design, enemy distinction as well as player interaction and engagement. Even if done in the laziest/easiest way possible, like a uniquely themed per profession PvE-only Utility skill, I still think it could go far in improving the game, but for that Anet would have to go back and look at all of the swing a sword and swing it again boring and barely interactive OW and Story PvE content done previously as well (same with breakbars, in addition to boons), and we all know that's not going to happen anyway.

> @"Chyanne Waters.8719" said: > Quite a few people say because I want mastery points in the gem store that takes away from game play. Well to some that may be true, but to me it doesn't. I played Guildwars since 2005 in which I ended up o my sin 35 maxed titles (that's 5 titles over god walking amongst mere mortals title), Got GWAMM on my Rit, and Mesmer too. > In the Hall of Monuments I have four fully maxed out halls for four different characters. So in that game I did the extra stuff and enjoyed doing it while playing. > GW2 on the other hand does not have that system it has achievements which I am not interested in maxing out like titles in GW. If I get them I get them. The mastery points in the story are the same I do not want to go out of my way to get them while trying to get through the story to complete it. > We should not have to play the way we don't want too to max our masteries, and not be able compete all the mastery lines in the game. So putting the points in the gem store is not pay to win, but a quality of life thing. You still have to get the exp. to use them. It will not break the game at all. Something doesn't have to be technically "Pay to Win" to take away from the game and it's systems, also I don't quite understand this constant "We should not have to play the way we don't want to" be all end all argument in this community, against any form of interesting, challenging, group, diverse or new content, completely stagnating the game. These systems, be it meta achievements, mastery points, gear acquisition, legendary crafting, etc., are in place for a reason and are supposed to drive long term engagement, expose players to different types of content and build up emotional investment to the game by giving players a sense of accomplishment. All of those things could be sold in the Gemstore without being "pay to win", from legendaries to ascended gear to mastery points or achievements, since really, what is winning in PvE? Especially in a game as easy as this, but also where gear is far and wide outweighed by skill for the few challenging aspects of it. Yet, it would completely invalidate actually playing the game and any prestige, recognition or sense of accomplishment attached to anything. It's already hard enough to care about any cosmetic rewards when something better is always just a click away for real money. Same concept of how Raid sellers pretty much completely invalidated any prestige and sense of accomplishment from any Raid CM titles and such. Sure, I don't have to buy them, I can legitimately earn them.. but even if I do I'm then just indistinguishable from someone who did, so what's the point in having them if everything is just a matter of money. Do I still feel good about putting time and effort into a game when all I can accomplish can just as well be bought? Let alone if I bought it myself? For Mastery Points the point about being "forced" to play a certain way or thing (even if we accept that being universally bad, which I disagree with) is especially mute though. There are 83 Central Tyria Mastery points available, for a 49 needed to max out everything. 198 HoT Points for 144 needed. 130 PoF Points for 110 needed. And the only remotely close (so far) 58 Ice Brood Saga Points for 46 needed. If you can't find enough points without having to do things you hate too much to do them in that case, maybe you are just not enjoying the game, and that's fine. You don't have to max out everything if you don't actually care to do so. Invalidating the whole system even further for anyone who does care and pushes through some inconveniences and stuff they don't like to max out everything by just adding a credit card cheat option is, imo, not an apt solution just for some who do not actually want to engage with the game and it's systems though. And sure, the mastery system already isn't peak game design and ultimately doesn't matter or show anything because there are so many point to get anyway, but where is the line there with adding things to the Gemstore? And if players can just buy level 80, all masteries, hero points, ascended/legendary gear and so on, what's actually left to do and the point in having much of a game beyond the store, beyond "niche" content like PvP, Raids and Fractal's, which are satisfying for their own sake due to the challenge they provide?

People really don't seem to understand how damaging MTX are to games and their design with making such requests. As soon as things like ingame progression are normalised to be on sale for MTX (and that includes even cosmetics to some extend), it heavily incentivizes the developer to keep making the natural progression (through gameplay) more and more obtuse, annoying and grindy, in order to funnel people into the store for the much more "convenient" credit card alternative they so kindly offer, propping up their "value" by making the actual game a chore. Besides, even if you want to argue for it supporting game development with purchases, it's just as likely to be short term gains as it can also undermine the long term engagement and emotional investment of players, even harming the game population wise and therefor financially long term. If anything and everything is just a RL money purchase away, what's the point of actually keeping playing to "earn" anything, when every ingame achievement, accomplishment or reward has been devalued by just being a purchase without any prestige or proof of effort and dedication attached to it. Motivation to keep playing, and with that engagement with the overbearing store, plummets. MTX in large parts are just monetized cheat codes, be it for (in previous generations of games earn able ingame) cosmetic or mechanical progression, and anybody who ever cheated in a single player game for fun knows how quickly that'll burn you out, since non of the actually ingame systems matter anymore. Seriously, if you don't want to play the game, just don't. You don't have to get all the mastery points and masteries if you don't wish to do so (and there is plenty surplus of them to give players some choice in what to go for), but the game is already more than enough of a platform for monetization as it is. If you'd rather just go shopping than play the game, go play Amazon Store or smth.

> @"ATMAvatar.5749" said: > > @"Infusion.7149" said: > > I'd suggest you make a LFG squad group and just look for firebrand+alacrity renegade+banner berserker/warrior. > > I won't disagree with the efficacy of this group setup, but it is a rather sad indictment of the current game balance that you have to construct groups around a few very specific builds of specific professions. Really doesn't have anything to do with game balance whatsoever, Chronomancer, Firebrand and Renegade are just literally the only specs in the game capable of upkeeping group Quickness and Alacrity, and Warrior the only profession capable of providing those multiple unique 10 man buffs, each of those boons/buffs adds drastically more value than anything else you could bring to an absurd degree, making them essentially mandatory. If anything your complaint would be, understandably so, about game design, unless you are critiquing the efficacy of Quickness/Alacrity and Banners itself ofc.

It's certainly not "dead", and depending on what you enjoy in a ~~MMO~~ Game it's still a fantastic game to get into with loads of content to experience. Where the accusation of dead game comes from, and imo validly so, is once you've been there and done that in terms of incredibly easy and often bland single player and story content and actually want to play an MMO and really get and stay engaged with the game and communities. It doesn't really matter whether you enjoy small scale PvP, large scale PvP, casual instanced PvE, hardcore instanced PvE, small friend group content (casual or hc), large guild group content (c/h), etc. it's a sad matter of fact that pretty much all of that is dead and abandoned content at this point, with only a few people/communities in those remaining on life support due to lack of new content, in favour of ~2h worth of single player story patches and play alone together OW content every couple months. Now if you are new and somehow can still find groups regularly for that content, it being all "dead" ofc doesn't matter as much as it's a huge amount for newer players to catch up on still, but once you get bored of the same few Dungeons, Raids, Fractals, Guild Halls, Guild Missions, Strikes, WvW gameloop, PvP maps and meta, and on, there is just nothing in sight to ever rectify that at this point. If you enjoy eternally walking around mostly alone (and even if not, never actually engaging with anyone) in a tutorial like OW oneshotting mobs, the game has you covered though.