GW2 needs the henchmen from GW1

[Orpheal.8263]

GW2 shoudl make finally happen, what ANet originally basically planned as one of the games features to be part of the game..

 

A Companion System... An companions in fact should just be characters from your own account, to enable it a player to cxreate a party of companions that are all yor own made characters...

 

Every own Character, which plays throw the Main games Main Story and defeats Zhaitan ,should get unlokced from this moment on for your accoutn to work as a Companion for your other Character,s which also have done the games main story and further....

 

A Companion System shoudl provide in and of itself the special sub feature, that it should allow the player to switch in combat anytime between your character currently in play with any of your companions.. so that you actualyl play and control with a Companion Party not just only 1 chbaracter anymore, but basically all up to 5 Characters, where the CPU takes over the control of your 4 Companions, while you actually play at the moment self the 5th character, which the CPU takers over to control for you if you want to switch to play one of your Compaions in the group.

This in fact woudl be the clear and superior improval of GW1s Hero System, where you gave your heroes only cheap commands, while the CPU basically always was in full control with its bad A.I., where yiou had never the option to take over the control of one of those compaions to play them self and do what you want them to do at that moment, instead of having to give them commands from the party leader character and manually move them around via bad commands and flag pointers just to let them move to spots where you want to have them.... if you could just control them for your self, move them to the spot where you want to have them exactly and switch then to another character with the switch off charavcter that the COU takes over then doing what they can do from that position on then to which you have move by the compaion by yourself...

 

A companion system, with an improved far more intelligently working A.I system that has be inspired by the A.I system from Final fantasy 12, which allows the player to give the AI indirectly orders via prioritoes and importency restrictions, which autmatically tell the A.I. what it shoudldo for you with your companions while you don#t control them self, based on the happening situations in the game, based on a very simple "when x, than Y, else Z-mechanism design"

 

This is simple basics practically for any good running A.I. mechanis, that it should follow automatically what you want it to do for you, based on your chosen priorities and preferences to give this game an improved Hero System 2.0 in the end, calling it for GW2 then as the kind of planned Companion System, to show that the original feature has been improved and been made mroe depthful, than to add just selfmade own NPCs to which you as a player have absolutely no bonding with - but with your very own created Characters!!, thats something totally different now on a whole more meaningful level...

[IndigoSundown.5419]

> @"Kheldorn.5123" said:

>

> NPC AI is purposfully dumbed down. Why enemies can play "smart" and our npcs not?

 

Is that why ANet saw fit to buff AoE resistance for Ranger pets? If the NPC AI was "dumbed down," why not un-dumb it? And where, exactly, are those "smart" enemies?

[Ithilwen.1529]

Henchies might lag the servers badly. It'd be like every player having 5 permanent pets.

 

Still, I love this idea. I can play hard content solo in GW1 because I've spent time building up my hero/henchie team. ( a Sabway necro crew. ) What if they were available for select content, like fractals or dungeons?

 

As an alternative, limit them to 2, 1 for rangers.

[Eternalight.4708]

I don't think the game is at a point where we need heroes and/or henchmen. That system suited GW1 due to the nature of the content and the way it allowed you to approach it. GW1's AI was reasonable, often better than some pugs. GW2's NPC's AI is so lackluster right now i could see them being more of a reason to headbutt your screen.

 

I do support this to an extent however the resources required to fully revamp/reinvent the system to fit GW2 could cause delays elsewhere. If it's even on the table it surely isn't near the top of the priority list, so much so new priorities would constantly push it down the list.

[starhunter.6015]

Well between Environmental bundles that summon pets to elementals to the new sunspear contract . Having hire-able NPC's isn't to far fetched for the game to have. Anet could easily make Skritt, Quaggan, Choya even a tiny golem as hire-able NPC's. Could even add outfits for them on the Gem store.

[Aenaos.8160]

Also while we are at it,give it a off line mode as well.

Wtf.Who needs other players to play a MMO.

And the gaem is daed.

Just every zone full of players,including nubies.

All the time asking information only a new player would ask.

And since the revenue is declining(the horror of a company that earns dozens of millions per year-unacceptable),

why not include super heroes of Tyria as well.They are like heroes,only stronker.

And add a afk fishing mode too.

That way we won't have to see other people at all,or even worse let them look and comment on our vividly painted armors and funny haircuts.

And last but not least.

Minions.

We can have up to 50 of out minis as active minions,and they can be used in any number of activities.

Including raid clears.

We get all the loot.

They are happy to serve us.

We don't have to talk to people.

Win win.

 

[Derenek.8931]

Ok, well here's my experience over the last week.

 

Log in, check to see if any dungeon geoups... none there.

Then queu up a lfg, derp around for two hours, nobody joins.

Decide I want to do some questing/personal story/living world. Advertise for a group. Nobody joins.

Run around the Core game zones to pick up some hears. I'm the only player character in the zone.

Decide to try a Raid for the first time. Join a group and get booted when I tell them I am new to Raids.

Queue a raid lfg. Nobody joins for the two hours i wait.

 

The game might not be dead. But if it isnt, I'm not sure where the heck anyone is.

 

Alot of this game's content is really solo yolo these days.

 

Henchmen/NPC Heroes would help fill in the gap. You guys can mock me all you like, but ifI log o four or five hours a day and cant find a grouo or get booted for not being experienced enough. Henchmen would help out a lot.

[costepj.5120]

I logged in for a couple of hours last night. Timing was good for AB meta, so I switched to my Rev parked in AB at about xx:35, got on tag and completed a few events until the meta started. After looting all the chests I then switched to a character in Amnoon. Checked LFG for a bounty run. Picked one of three available and stayed long enough to complete six or seven bounties. In my last half hour I did a few less sociable things like clearing my home instance and advancing the LW story on another of my alts. Then I logged off to watch football in the snow on TV :)

I love this game for how easy it is to mix and match PUG play with solo activities.

[Biff.5312]

I'm not sure what you mean. Maybe in LFG there isn't a lot of people, but I've never had any trouble finding groups of people participating in events etc., and if you 're in a guild this shouldn't be an issue.

[DeanBB.4268]

People complain about the loot now, so how will they react when every henchman you add to your party takes their fair share?

[xiiliea.9356]

Pls add intelligent henchmen/heroes for raids too, who know how to do green circles etc., then I will stop complaining about raid elitism.

[kharmin.7683]

Adding my vote to the "no" side. I just don't want 'em or see 'em running around with other players.

[pixie.5940]

> @"Derenek.8931" said:

> Currently as the game population is dying off and the veteran players are all moving to raids and fractals, the rest of the world is deserted. If you want to do a dungeon, story quests, personal story, level up, etc its either solo yolo it, or just skip past that content.... There just arent people available to join your party.

>

> Having some henchmen that you could equip and skill up like in GW1 would be awesome for newer players and older players who want to play the game, but arent interested in doing nothing but raids and the new expansion pack zones.

>

> It would also be great for squad based WvW or SPvP content.

 

I would be down for henchmen only for old content dungeons tbh. Everything else though doesn't seem so empty and everything still flowing and busy.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

> @"kharmin.7683" said:

> Just play a necromancer and summon your lackeys.

 

And that’s about as smart as I expect henchmen to be.

 

Me: (after finishing killing a mob) “Onward my minions. We going North!”

Minions: “We just remembered someone gave us a dirty look earlier. Let’s get him!” (All head South)

[Jumpin Lumpix.6108]

I've played gw's since GW1 was in beta, and in the last 2 months I have seen populations tank across the board. You can also see it reflected in how the tp prices have tanked with large supply an no buyers as in only vet people are playing and they are selling things,and nobody new is buying them so the economy sinks.

 

I think the game needs new mechanics including Hero's and hench, but the way dungeons and raids are setup they probably won't work. I love how everyone on here is nitpicking threads by saying we'll technically this or that, the games population is shrinking irs very obvious, my evidence is observation and common sense.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

> @"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:

> I've played gw's since GW1 was in beta, and in the last 2 months I have seen populations tank across the board. You can also see it reflected in how the tp prices have tanked with large supply an no buyers as in only vet people are playing and they are selling things,and nobody new is buying them so the economy sinks.

>

> I think the game needs new mechanics including Hero's and hench, but the way dungeons and raids are setup they probably won't work. I love how everyone on here is nitpicking threads by saying we'll technically this or that, the games population is shrinking irs very obvious, my evidence is observation and common sense.

 

You know what will happen when LWS4 episode 2 hits. The population will pick back up again. It's the nature of the game. What you are seeing is just the wait for another episode. This is also observation and common sense.

[Jumpin Lumpix.6108]

> @"Doctor Hide.6345" said:

> > @"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:

> > I've played gw's since GW1 was in beta, and in the last 2 months I have seen populations tank across the board. You can also see it reflected in how the tp prices have tanked with large supply an no buyers as in only vet people are playing and they are selling things,and nobody new is buying them so the economy sinks.

> >

> > I think the game needs new mechanics including Hero's and hench, but the way dungeons and raids are setup they probably won't work. I love how everyone on here is nitpicking threads by saying we'll technically this or that, the games population is shrinking irs very obvious, my evidence is observation and common sense.

>

> You know what will happen when LWS4 episode 2 hits. The population will pick back up again. It's the nature of the game. What you are seeing is just the wait for another episode. This is also observation and common sense.

 

yah but this lull between episodes in the population is by far worse then anything I have seen, areas are deserted and you cant find anyone in LFG for most things.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

> @"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:

> > @"Doctor Hide.6345" said:

> > > @"Jumpin Lumpix.6108" said:

> > > I've played gw's since GW1 was in beta, and in the last 2 months I have seen populations tank across the board. You can also see it reflected in how the tp prices have tanked with large supply an no buyers as in only vet people are playing and they are selling things,and nobody new is buying them so the economy sinks.

> > >

> > > I think the game needs new mechanics including Hero's and hench, but the way dungeons and raids are setup they probably won't work. I love how everyone on here is nitpicking threads by saying we'll technically this or that, the games population is shrinking irs very obvious, my evidence is observation and common sense.

> >

> > You know what will happen when LWS4 episode 2 hits. The population will pick back up again. It's the nature of the game. What you are seeing is just the wait for another episode. This is also observation and common sense.

>

> yah but this lull between episodes in the population is by far worse then anything I have seen, areas are deserted and you cant find anyone in LFG for most things.

 

Just because this one is bad doesn't mean the population is dying that bad like you stated. Correlation is not the causation for this case. The population being low right now does not imply there is a massive decrease.

[particlepinata.9865]

Alot of asumptions, but not backed by facts. The vanilla game is still very much alive with a steady growth of newbies. I myself play on eu, and never have a problem to walk into many other players. Are you playing on exotic times when everyone is asleep?

[Derenek.8931]

I don't play hardcore. So I pop on at random times without much prior planning.

 

When the game first launched all the multiplayer content like dungeons, bosses, story missions, etc had tons of people around in order to help you.

 

A champion mob spawns and there would be a dozen players there within moments. These days when I run through zones I am by myself. Events and champions spawn and I am soloing them. Since I don't log on at any specific time and my experience is generally similar there must be something going on.

 

Even when the living world stories came out, I would post up a lfg and there would be around a ten minute lapse before filling the group. And the LFG tool always had a variety of groups ding a variety of things. Now I bring it up and it is a ghost town as well. Nothing but a few sad souls posting up they wan to do story mode for dungeons and sitting there with no joiners.

 

All except the raid menu which is full of a hundred parties each with one person in it hoping to sell their raid experience to some noob. But no actual parties of players in it to have fun. Even the few groups that aren't about fleecing players into giving up their gold are booting people without their specific Acronym build. (Which is hilarious because guildwars really only has cosmetic differences between classes since they are all DPS anyways)...

 

If you see a hundred players sitting in divinity's reach, but zero players out where you are playing, the game isn't full. The soundtrack may as well be switched to crickets chirping.

 

It's true that most of the open world PvE is totally without challenge, but the parts that actually are worth doing like bosses, champions, and story missions generally require a couple heroes/players. And most of us have lives outside of tyria as well, so sitting in lion's arch for three hours hoping for a party isn't really fun or worthwhile.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

> @"Derenek.8931" said:

> I don't play hardcore. So I pop on at random times without much prior planning.

>

> When the game first launched all the multiplayer content like dungeons, bosses, story missions, etc had tons of people around in order to help you.

>

> A champion mob spawns and there would be a dozen players there within moments. These days when I run through zones I am by myself. Events and champions spawn and I am soloing them. Since I don't log on at any specific time and my experience is generally similar there must be something going on.

>

> Even when the living world stories came out, I would post up a lfg and there would be around a ten minute lapse before filling the group. And the LFG tool always had a variety of groups ding a variety of things. Now I bring it up and it is a ghost town as well. Nothing but a few sad souls posting up they wan to do story mode for dungeons and sitting there with no joiners.

>

> All except the raid menu which is full of a hundred parties each with one person in it hoping to sell their raid experience to some noob. But no actual parties of players in it to have fun. Even the few groups that aren't about fleecing players into giving up their gold are booting people without their specific Acronym build. (Which is hilarious because guildwars really only has cosmetic differences between classes since they are all DPS anyways)...

>

> If you see a hundred players sitting in divinity's reach, but zero players out where you are playing, the game isn't full. The soundtrack may as well be switched to crickets chirping.

>

> It's true that most of the open world PvE is totally without challenge, but the parts that actually are worth doing like bosses, champions, and story missions generally require a couple heroes/players. And most of us have lives outside of tyria as well, so sitting in lion's arch for three hours hoping for a party isn't really fun or worthwhile.

 

From the sounds of it, it sounds like you are trying to get stuff done in core tyria which most of the population doesn't bother with. Most of the people are in WvW/sPvP/Fractals/and raids or doing open world stuff in HoT or PoF. Just because core Tyria is lacking doesn't mean it is going down. The population just shifted. Also, story missions are solo-able. You don't need a group to do them. 100s of players in LA and DR talking does mean the game is full. Being in the open world is not a requirement for something to be full.

[Derenek.8931]

I guess you weren't playing at launch. Because All the zones were full and so were the towns and the wvw/pvp zones. Compared to even when the population cut itself in half from launch, the world is a ghost town. Even in the Heart of Thorns regions I'm running around by myself watching the occasional player with a mount jump on top of stuff and then disappear. Only on weekends during prime time do I see any semblance of player population in the open world.

 

So I think because of this henchmen would be nice. When the choice is between playing solo and probably dying. Or waiting for the weekend.

 

The choice is clear.

 

I buy/play a different game,

I don't plan my schedule around guildwars. I want to be able to play when i can play.

[Doctor Hide.6345]

> @"Derenek.8931" said:

> I guess you weren't playing at launch. Because All the zones were full and so were the towns and the wvw/pvp zones. Compared to even when the population cut itself in half from launch, the world is a ghost town. Even in the Heart of Thorns regions I'm running around by myself watching the occasional player with a mount jump on top of stuff and then disappear. Only on weekends during prime time do I see any semblance of player population in the open world.

>

> So I think because of this henchmen would be nice. When the choice is between playing solo and probably dying. Or waiting for the weekend.

>

> The choice is clear.

>

> I buy/play a different game,

> I don't plan my schedule around guildwars. I want to be able to play when i can play.

 

You are correct. I was not here at launch, but I see people all the time when I am playing. I can't say it's a ghost town when I see people out in the open world, or when I am doing my BFF farming. Hell, we talk all the time on that map. I am sure a lot of people are at the istan farm map as well along with Silverwastes. That is where your open world population is. Most open world champs in core tyria and HoT and mobs are not worth the grind anymore when you can get better loot at the places I mentioned.

[Djahlat.9610]

First I'd like to disagree with the first premise you're making that assumes the game population is dying off, which is not true (at least from my anecdotal evidence), but if there really is a need to make the game veer towards solo-play (which is totally against the Manifesto), I think the new Sunspear summoning items or something along those lines would be great. Maybe 1 stone would summon 2 helping npcs for an indefinite amount of time, with infinite use

[Derenek.8931]

> @"Djahlat.9610" said:

> First I'd like to disagree with the first premise you're making that assumes the game population is dying off, which is not true (at least from my anecdotal evidence), but if there really is a need to make the game veer towards solo-play (which is totally against the Manifesto), I think the new Sunspear summoning items or something along those lines would be great. Maybe 1 stone would summon 2 helping npcs for an indefinite amount of time, with infinite use

 

 

I don't know if you ever played GW1, but they had in the Cantha expansion and others many well designed missions for multiple teams of players plus henchmen. Henchmen don't need to make the game all solo, they just add the option to add in new game modes as well as let players get things done in the current environment (which really isn't PUG friendly for most gameplay)