Most MMO players have spent years looking for the 'right' MMO in which to spend their time. Along the way, the myriad problems with attaining that ideal have been voiced by the gaming community. In today's Guild Wars 2 column, MMORPG.com's David North discusses how Arena.Net is breaking the MMO mold on many fronts, most notably the one where developers actually look at player concerns and listen to the voices of their fan base. Keep reading!

Besides actually raising the level cap, Arena Net also changed the way you level up. In other MMOs, players would either have to grind on creatures or do a ton of meaningless quests. No one in their right mind enjoys leveling using either of these tactics. Time and time again I hear people complain about this, and so has ArenaNet. To remedy this, they made it harder to level up, but it doesn’t take longer. Instead they kept the leveling curve for each level the same. So no more playing for two days and still not leveling up, we’ll have constant character progression.

Read more of David North's Guild Wars 2: The Cries of the Players.

You are really selling this game. One has to wonders if you're part of Arena.net's marketing division, but i guess you're not. I hope you're right looking forward to this one.

Yeah, they certainly have heard the majority of my cries. Now I can finally level up with my friends, without impeding on each others progress. I really hate how in other MMOs if I'm a couple of levels ahead or behind my friend, then one of us would have to wait for the other to catch up, if we want to continue playing together.

I thought MMOs were meant to be a multiplayer experience and it seems like out of all the MMOs I know, only Guild Wars 2 is offering that with it's Dynamic Events. Now I can always play with my friends, or anyone for that matter; without the worry of kill stealing, ninja looting, ninja mining and I'll always be rewarded (no more grey mobs that offer no xp).

Also another thing to note is the tier-less, skill-based PvP system; whereby my skill will beat your skill and not your 20% dmg mitigation will beat my 5% dmg mitigation. (The 40% dmg mitigation is Rift was ridiculous, but at least they patched it).

All for no monthly fee.

"With the original only having a level cap of 20, it was easy to get to the max level. "

I don't get what he means by that, the number of levels and the time it takes to level up isn't the same thing at all.

DDO takes longer time to max out then Wow and DDO just have 20 levels. Sure, maxing out a character was really fast in GW. particularly since Factions released but that really have nothing at all to do with how many levels the game have.

I am not at all sure why ANET made it 80 levels but it have no actual impact on gameplay. 

Originally posted by Loke666

"With the original only having a level cap of 20, it was easy to get to the max level. "

I don't get what he means by that, the number of levels and the time it takes to level up isn't the same thing at all.

DDO takes longer time to max out then Wow and DDO just have 20 levels. Sure, maxing out a character was really fast in GW. particularly since Factions released but that really have nothing at all to do with how many levels the game have.

I am not at all sure why ANET made it 80 levels but it have no actual impact on gameplay. 

it's true for guild wars and has always been. you max out in GW in a very short time. it never, ever took any real length of time compared to any other game. 

Thank God they're leaving dual classing behind. That was such a bad idea on so many levels. Talk about some awful class mismatches. 

someone is really excited about this game, aren't we? :)

Originally posted by Loke666

...

I am not at all sure why ANET made it 80 levels but it have no actual impact on gameplay. 

 

I think they added more levels purely to stretch out the feeling of character progression. Seeing how you'll get your first Elite skill by around lvl 30 and and experience your first Dungeon around the same time, with progressively harder dungeons taking place every 10 levels, beyond that.

Also MMO players just like numbers in general. It's also why characters will damage in the thousands and have health pools in the 10's of thousands.

Originally posted by fony

Originally posted by Loke666

"With the original only having a level cap of 20, it was easy to get to the max level. "

I don't get what he means by that, the number of levels and the time it takes to level up isn't the same thing at all.

DDO takes longer time to max out then Wow and DDO just have 20 levels. Sure, maxing out a character was really fast in GW. particularly since Factions released but that really have nothing at all to do with how many levels the game have.

I am not at all sure why ANET made it 80 levels but it have no actual impact on gameplay. 

it's true for guild wars and has always been. you max out in GW in a very short time. it never, ever took any real length of time compared to any other game. 

Yeah, but before Factions it took 5 times as long to max out a character. Try just playing the original campaign with a character and then make a Faction one and you'll see what I mean.

It was still very short compared with most games at the time though.

Well, they didn't listen to me.  I didn't like the first one and don't think I will like this one but I will give it a fair shot.

I really tried hard with GW, but how for heaven i missed that  ''awesomeness''. It was and it is average good game but nothing more and nothing less

Originally posted by kasta

Well, they didn't listen to me.  I didn't like the first one and don't think I will like this one but I will give it a fair shot.

Well of course there is a difference between listening to people and doing what those people say. The former is what Anet is doing and thank god, they are not doing the later. Besides, even if they tried to do the later they would run into problems with conflicting opinions.

Originally posted by WhySoShort

Thank God they're leaving dual classing behind. That was such a bad idea on so many levels. Talk about some awful class mismatches. 

 

One of the better features in GW1 I think. But I understand how it is a balancing nightmare.

We can't honestly answer this question until we, the players, have a chance to actually see it first hand.  I've seen too many companies in the past promise to deliver and not follow through.  So until ArenaNet lets us in, I will withhold further judgement.

Originally posted by Malevian

We can't honestly answer this question until we, the players, have a chance to actually see it first hand.  I've seen too many companies in the past promise to deliver and not follow through.  So until ArenaNet lets us in, I will withhold further judgement.

 

Basically this. GW2 is still roughly 8 months from release if not more.

Yes, from story to VO to interesting combat to social life to no trinity to much more they have listened to me.

Originally posted by Puremallace

Originally posted by Malevian

We can't honestly answer this question until we, the players, have a chance to actually see it first hand.  I've seen too many companies in the past promise to deliver and not follow through.  So until ArenaNet lets us in, I will withhold further judgement.

 

Basically this. GW2 is still roughly 8 months from release if not more.

Ouch. GW 2 announced in 2007, now I gotta wait til 2012? Wah Wah Wah!

As long as I can make an Elonian human from day one without having to wait for the later expansions, im game.  I  have to give Anet some real props for Elona, they really did their research on African cultures in Nightfall and they didn't just take the cheap Egyptian/Islamic route that some games do. Even the nobles clothing and hairstyles from some areas is authentic sub saharan. Bravo A-Net, Bravo. Please Please keep all the character options so I can make an Elonian human from day one without having to wait for the Elona expansion. Otherwise I may not get this game day one. You guys put in toons that look like me, and I recently went back to buy GW1 for this reason (didnt have a comp the first time it came out).  I don't know if they read these boards, but this made such an impact on me that now GW2 is my most awaited mmo instead of SWTOR and TSW. (though I gotta say that TERA does have some reeally nice AA builds in the character creator)

Badly camouflaged ad...

Originally posted by Loke666

"With the original only having a level cap of 20, it was easy to get to the max level. "

I don't get what he means by that, the number of levels and the time it takes to level up isn't the same thing at all.

DDO takes longer time to max out then Wow and DDO just have 20 levels. Sure, maxing out a character was really fast in GW. particularly since Factions released but that really have nothing at all to do with how many levels the game have.

I am not at all sure why ANET made it 80 levels but it have no actual impact on gameplay. 

 

A cap of 80 was probably thought to be more palatable than 20, and would require much less defending and explaining.  ANet is already making a lot of big changes with the way GW2 plays compared to other MMOs.  This kind of cap is what most players are familiar with and is one less thing that naysayers will be able to focus their complaints upon.

I consider it largely a marketing decision, albeit one that has been well-implemented.