Originally posted by terrant

Originally posted by dimasok

Overall the game is great but there are several things I don't like:

 

1) When I go back to a previous area, there is not enough incentive for me to explore. It drops me down to the level of the enemies, makes it really hard to kill enemies I should have a cakewalk killing and on top of it all, doesn't net me XP that is worthwhile at my current lvl which means that its only worth going back to previous unexplored areas (say if you're 70 to go back to 45) only when you reached the cap and by that point going for 100% completion should be the main priority anyways and anything else would be secondary. 

 

I think there should be an option to turn off the "lower lvl in lower areas" so that I could have fun obliterating all the enemies since the XP it gives me right now is negligible and not worth the trouble.

 

2) The dynamic events... are repetitive and do not really have an effect on the world. Same thing happening till the end of time until AN decides to replace them with different ones.

 

Other than that, not much to complain about

 

 

 

1)  Really? I took my level 19 Thief back to a level 1-15 zone (mostly hanging in a level 9ish area) to farm crafting mats. I got a level every 30-60 minutes or so. XP didn't seemt hat negligible.

 

2) Repetitive, yes. No effect on the world...not permanent, but yes they do. Events can mean a village full of NPCs and vendors is there or not. It could mean a bridge is there to cut travel times across a large part of land and grant access to other events is there or not. And most importantly, events can spawn different events as you succeed or fail.

I think peopole had it in their head (Not saying you, just saying some people that I've seen posting here) that DEs would be permanent. That if centaurs burned down this village, it's gone forever. You kill the bandits and they never, ever come back. That's horrible from an MMO design standpoint. All you need is a few events and a zone would become a barren wasteland.

I can understand the want for persistance in an online world, but to some extent it just kills the ability for large masses of people to play the same game at different times and enjoy it.

 

On to Bill's review...

 

I'd mostly agree with this week's. WvW queue times are annoying; and not being able to sort armor by type (cloth, leather, etc) just seems silly. 

1) It is negligible. Taking my lvl69 to a previously unexplored lvl45 area... is nearly useless.

2) Well, I sort of knew that the DE wouldn't be permanent, and I understand why it couldnt be from an MMO design standpoint.. still though, a truly online persistent world would be a big step forward.

My other problem with the XP is that some enemies take AGES to kill (i.e. champions) and yet the XP you get from them is nearly the same as you get form killing a regular mob. They REALLY need to change that. I can maybe understand that they factor in to the event XP, but what if they're not part of the event and are randomly scattered around? Why the hell would I bother with them? Say what you will about TOR (and many others) but they knew how to handle champion level enemies and knew better than to give the same xp you get for regular mobs

Oh and they REALLY need to fix this clipping issues! I've never gotten stuck in an mmo before as much as I get stuck here. Stuck in spawning structures (because I happen to be in the wrong place and can't teleport until all enemies are killed, etc) mostly.

Originally posted by dimasok

Originally posted by terrant

Originally posted by dimasok

Overall the game is great but there are several things I don't like:

 

1) When I go back to a previous area, there is not enough incentive for me to explore. It drops me down to the level of the enemies, makes it really hard to kill enemies I should have a cakewalk killing and on top of it all, doesn't net me XP that is worthwhile at my current lvl which means that its only worth going back to previous unexplored areas (say if you're 70 to go back to 45) only when you reached the cap and by that point going for 100% completion should be the main priority anyways and anything else would be secondary. 

 

I think there should be an option to turn off the "lower lvl in lower areas" so that I could have fun obliterating all the enemies since the XP it gives me right now is negligible and not worth the trouble.

 

2) The dynamic events... are repetitive and do not really have an effect on the world. Same thing happening till the end of time until AN decides to replace them with different ones.

 

Other than that, not much to complain about

 

 

 

1)  Really? I took my level 19 Thief back to a level 1-15 zone (mostly hanging in a level 9ish area) to farm crafting mats. I got a level every 30-60 minutes or so. XP didn't seemt hat negligible.

 

2) Repetitive, yes. No effect on the world...not permanent, but yes they do. Events can mean a village full of NPCs and vendors is there or not. It could mean a bridge is there to cut travel times across a large part of land and grant access to other events is there or not. And most importantly, events can spawn different events as you succeed or fail.

I think peopole had it in their head (Not saying you, just saying some people that I've seen posting here) that DEs would be permanent. That if centaurs burned down this village, it's gone forever. You kill the bandits and they never, ever come back. That's horrible from an MMO design standpoint. All you need is a few events and a zone would become a barren wasteland.

I can understand the want for persistance in an online world, but to some extent it just kills the ability for large masses of people to play the same game at different times and enjoy it.

 

On to Bill's review...

 

I'd mostly agree with this week's. WvW queue times are annoying; and not being able to sort armor by type (cloth, leather, etc) just seems silly. 

1) It is negligible. Taking my lvl69 to a previously unexplored lvl45 area... is nearly useless.

 

2) Well, I sort of knew that the DE wouldn't be permanent, and I understand why it couldnt be from an MMO design standpoint.. still though, a truly online persistent world would be a big step forward.

 

My other problem with the XP is that some enemies take AGES to kill (i.e. champions) and yet the XP you get from them is nearly the same as you get form killing a regular mob. They REALLY need to change that. I can maybe understand that they factor in to the event XP, but what if they're not part of the event and are randomly scattered around? Why the hell would I bother with them? Say what you will about TOR (and many others) but they knew how to handle champion level enemies and knew better than to give the same xp you get for regular mobs

 

Oh and they REALLY need to fix this clipping issues! I've never gotten stuck in an mmo before as much as I get stuck here. Stuck in spawning structures (because I happen to be in the wrong place and can't teleport until all enemies are killed, etc) mostly.

1. To have fun

2. See Answer #1.  

There's so much to do in the game,  if your only complaint is you have to wait to get in a feature they said would be limited to only 500 per time on a server then that's got to be amazing. Especially since it must be a good enough feature to keep people busy and in the game.  If you don't like the que time on yoru server, switch servers.  Can't say i've had to wait too long on Tarnished Coast. 

Great review.

Might want to fix the "Rought Spots" typo though.

@Dalano: Thanks!

And I just might temporarily switch servers... I went to JQ with our MMORPG.com guild, and I'd hate to not WvW with them, but since it'd only be temporary it might be my best option.

Well I hope this game does well for those that like it.  I'd like to see Blizzard lose a bunch of subscriptions since all they want to do is rest on their laurels and feed off the cash cow.  However, this game isn't for me, and I just wanted to post so others know why so those who have not bought it can make an informed decision. 

First the good:  I loved the graphics, fighting was fun and pretty involved for me compared to most games.  Having quests be part of a larger environment was cool and the opening battles *spolier* against the centaur are fun that is when this game really shines.  Didn't do alot of the pvp because I prefer world pvp not battleground type stuff.  (BY world pvp I mean while questing getting attacked etc.)

Now the bad (admittedly for me this was few but enough to make me delete the game.)  I found for me personally the game was more of a grind then any game I have played in a long time.  This was because the story (outside of personal story which occurs every few levels) is almost non-existent.  You go from one spot to the next near a heart and just kill stuff till it fills up and move on.  Even when you go to find out what the heart is for it is rarely engaging or interesting.  I prefer to feel like I am doing something for a reason and I guess I am more of a quest hub type person.  I believe RIFT did this better with there dynamic rifts on top of having quest hubs. 

My other complaint (besides no open world pvp and the one stated above) is that the community seems lacking you just zerg the world monsters and the gain from this is small.  In my mind it is not that fun to just attack enmasse and overwhelm through sheer numbers and then when done get no reward really other than xp which you get from everything in this game anyway.

These were my personal issues and I hope it helps someone who is on the fence.  GW2 is a great game it is just not for me or people who prefer a little more RPG and community/party based system like me.

"No, I’m nowhere near the cap, and yes I still can’t get into WvW unless I’m online for 2-3 hours, but I’ll be damned if I’m still not having plenty of fun with everything else the game has to offer. There may be folks who are less than impressed. We have a few of them here on our forums. I can appreciate their views even if I don’t share them. For my own value, GW2 has been the most fun I’ve had with a launched MMO since 2004."

Now seriously, what's the entire point of "reviews in progress" if your outcome is already made?

"No, I have not experienced most of the game, and there are some aspects that are entirely our of my reach by virtue of its design and population - but it's the best game since 2004!!!!1"

Hilarious.  Let's see if 9 months down the line you'll be repeating the TSW post-mortem "I don't know what to say, I still stand by the 8.5 score we gave it (9+ for GW2)."

hi all, im just asking your opinion that can my PC run GW2 with this sh*t ?

amd athlon 64 x2 4800 2,4GHz, 2GB ram, 280 GTX 1GB

i would like to play sooooo much but dont want to buy the game without confirmation.

i know there are some system req. released, but i would like to know all of your experience of the game with your hardware, thanks in advance.

Originally posted by evolpc

Originally posted by BillMurphy

Originally posted by evolpc

Judge the game on its current merrits at the time of the review. If a feature is unavailable to be reviewed.... well then the recourse is very simple. Why go out of your way to avoid taking any points away?

It's not about that, but rather about missing out the biggest part of it's PVP. I'd not be able to judge it at all, whereas I can judge a majority of the PVE content and sPVP, but not the big draw: WVW.  I can't judge it on its current merits, if I can't access all systems.  And I can't really take away points because a feature is popular either.  

You sound a lot more like a fan than a journalist. Obviously you would not be taking away points because a feature is popular. That's another cop out. When looking at it objectively the feature is unavailable to be scored. The reason is irrelevant. It is one of the major features of the game and should be available, within reason, to all who purchase the game. If it is not then it is a shortcoming of the game design, which you are representing yourself as a reviewer of. You keep saying yourself that you can't access the systems to review them. However the game will receive a glowing, gushing review at press time. It seems intellectually dishonest.

If it was a low budget game company with a feature like this not working it would be getting terrible reviews.

I think they decided this game would get great a great reveiw before launch, and even a bad launch and crappy game wont change reviews.

But hey...the guy said he played it for 10 hours. Most people are bored to death by then.

Originally posted by samboleon

hi all, im just asking your opinion that can my PC run GW2 with this sh*t ?

amd athlon 64 x2 4800 2,4GHz, 2GB ram, 280 GTX 1GB

i would like to play sooooo much but dont want to buy the game without confirmation.

i know there are some system req. released, but i would like to know all of your experience of the game with your hardware, thanks in advance.

 

 

From [url= https://buy.guildwars2.com/en/]Buy Guild Wars 2[/url]:

Looks like you just barely skooched in the reqs.

The game is popular, for sure...but the fact that players chose to jump onto a few servers in massive numbers instead of spreading out more evenly really can't be considered a design flaw...especially since ArenaNet provides a very quick and easy solution to that problem.

So the mmorpg.com guild chose to locate themselves on one of the two most crowded servers... why not move the whole guild?

There are plenty of servers with no queues, very little zerging in events, and plenty of room in WvWvW for an organized guild to really make a difference for the server. The problem is simply mob mentality, and stubbornness on the part of players. Many of the largest and most organized guilds all decided to crowd onto a few servers, and this created a mass of followers who want the easy wins in PvP...and queue times are the completely predictable result.

Please don't take points away from the game (or talk negatively about it in a review) simply because you CHOOSE not to take advantage of the easy and simple solutions provided. As an individual or a guild. Home world transfers are free. I can tell you for sure that my server, Ferguson's Crossing, has no queues at all, and could really use the help of a few organized guilds for WvW. I'm personally enjoying the fact that things are much less crowded, and that if I ever choose to take part in WvW, I won't have to wait...and I'll be able to potentially make a big impact, rather than sitting for hours only to be player_033289 in the Borg collective.

Interesting read, Bill. But I really have to call you out on something - especially given the amount of praise and claims of "best game ever" being heaped on it by so many...

And to others - please let Bill answer for himself. He's an intelligent guy, well spoken and quite capable of speaking for himself. I'm sure he doesn't need any white knights coming to his aid.

Bill, the bit that stood out to me is this part here, regarding missing NPCs or otherwise bugged content...

"But it’s still annoying if you need an event for zone completion or if you just expected to do one and can’t because of a bug.  It’s the price you pay for a more elaborate form of quest, I suppose."

Are you seriously making an apologetic excuse for ANet here? Are you seriously donning the fanboy outfit and attempting to dismiss so important an issue as people being unable to complete content? I've seen and heard of many problems in the area of people being unable to complete content due to one issue or another, so this isn't some case of remote or isolated incidences.

Is it the end of the world? No. It is something that would have been - and has been - a serious negative mark in  any other MMO review. It certainly would be given more attention and criticism than "well, just the price you pay I guess!".

I can appreciate that people enjoy the game a lot. That's wonderful.

But when it gets to the point where you're making excuses, or dismissing what is and would be a significant issue in any other game, it tarnishes the rest of your review.

In a game that is hailed as being so high in quality and attention to detail as GW2 regularly is, something as major as not being able to complete content should be given more criticism, not less.

never mind.

You really couldn't find anything to complain about in the economy?  How about the fact that Arenanet is clueless on economies?

For example a majority of items are selling at vendor price.  This wouldn't be so bad except for the 5% posting fee and the 10% sales tax when you sell it.  Most people are making less (if it sells at all since there are tens of thousands of the same item for sale).  There is no economy.. it's split heavily between max level players (who can make money on their mats/items) and everyone else.

Or their fact to help eliminate items screws over low level players? They added temporary mystic forge recipes that take 250-500 of an item to combine in the forge.. so rich people are buying low level crafting mats to throw into the forge, making low level crafting mats almost as expensive as high level crafting mats.

I'm not sure if you're only doing cooking or what, but you could talk about how crafted items are mostly junk and won't sell for near what it cost to make them.  The only weapons/armors that sell are those very specific ones or Exotic quality ones at skill 400.

Or the massive amounts of time (or money, good thing you can buy gold by turning Gems into in-game currency!) it takes to grind and grind and grind for crafting mats...

I think if you looked harder you could find some things to complain about.. but I get it, it's a new shiny game and it's hard to see all of the problems.

Glad you are taking your time doing a review of MMO games, rather than the 1-2 days of playing a few hours and giving it an 8.0-8.5 rating.   It was rather pathetic how it used to be done here.   

I'm hesitant to buy the game because all I want to do is W v W v W PvP, but I'm not willing to sit in a 1-3 hour que to do it.   I thought it was supposed to be zerg versus zerg and to have a que for a zerg is just a bit surprising.  I guess it's to keep frame rates at an acceptable level and to keep some amount of skill and strategy involved rather than who has the larger zerg.  Once the ques get fixed, I'll probably buy the game.

Originally posted by dimasok

I think there should be an option to turn off the "lower lvl in lower areas" so that I could have fun obliterating all the enemies since the XP it gives me right now is negligible and not worth the trouble.

 

Yes let's go back to the days of WOW when I was trying to do a quest, only to find some hi lev farmer had wiped out every single mob I needed to kill...

Crafting: refine all materials, proceed with all possible discoveries. Craft a set of armour, weapons, jewelry for your character and you are at the next stage of crafting. I'm approaching GW2 differently then any other MMO I played. I'm actually leveling 5 different characters at the same time. All with different crafting skills and all different classes and various race to make it as enjoyable as possible. On the top of that it allows me to avoid unfinished and buggy content on higher levels.

I hear quite often from collegues who are leveling only one character that the content at high levels is buggy and they often can't finish a mission, an event etc. That's why ArenaNet left ability to switch between servers for free. Despite that some of the people I know were getting really frustrated unable to find a working instance of the same quest. GW2 is far from being perfect or polished at higher levels ( in fact I had few bugged, stack events at lower levels too ), but it is still the biggest fun I had in MMO for years.

I always enjoy your reviews Bill. I have a few annoyances with GW2 lately, many of which relate to WvW and the TP, but I love the game overall and you can't fault the progress with which Anet is squashing bugs. 

Look if you really want to get WvW done create a character on Ferguson's Crossing. WvW queues are very short there although we tend to get crushed by other servers with some regularity. This can actually be one of the tough things about the game for me right now. I love WvW but once a server owns the majority of the map people get discouraged and give up. I do believe it's something Anet needs to address at some point. 

Without quoting the huge debate about Bill's review of doe-see-doe queues, may I point out that unlike, say, Bill O'Reilly who could hire a crew of staff to play through and report back on an aspect of the game out of his contingency budget, Bill Murphy has to eke by on the revenue from this blog/zine/whatever afforded to him by the flash ads that don't get blocked by the 2% of you who haven't discovered ad blocking technology for your browsers.

As a result, he has only himself, and only so many hours in the day, and fewer hours in all likelihood, to play GW2, because he has to call all these game companies to line up the next set of ads and the next set of articles in order to keep the site running -- in addition to researching and writing these reviews.

He is a journalist and a fan -- and he can't be a good game journalist without being a fan.  Works for football and all the RL sports, works for MMOs.  You'd really hate it if he were like some of the shills in journalism that just wrote from press releases.

While I do think mmorpg.com needs more depth in the business, legal, and tech aspects  of games among their writers, I have no beef with the fan and journalism and gung-ho they put in compared to the crop in the general market of stuff out there, when I think of what they are probably dealing with for budget.

Cut the man some slack.  If you want more arms-length professional journalism regarding games, go read Gamasutra -- you won't have nearly as much rough-and-tumble fun, and you won't find the hands-on stuff, but you'll find that the staff is professional even when they are three glorious sheets to the wind (a fine journalistic tradition, I understand...).  

But Gamasutra is also not a site *for* fans.  And Bill is writing *for* you.