I'm one of the many hoping for GW2 to be a game that can go the distance and save me from the current debacle that is the MMO idustry.

My biggest turn-off is this trend of adding rediculous, over the top partical effecs to every single attack move performed by every single class.  Is this what players really want? I was supper pumped from GW2, however the more video's I see of the combat the less appealing it's getting.  Combat has become and series of massive explosions and multicolored plasma whipping around all over the place as players spam moves while the screen fills up with damage #'s (which is also another horrible trend).

Case in point, this video. Group combat starts at about 6 min or so and proceeds to turn into a spam fest/firework show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_TDMoOCyHQ

Yeah but the fireworks are so innovative

I think you are missing an important part of what Anet is trying to do.  They want you to be able to tell what skill others are using.  Having subtle hard to notice attacks would make it incredibly difficult to know when to apply a cross profession combo. 

I just watched the vid, and to me the particle effects were spot on. You have to remember, this is a PVP "ESPORT" game, and having clear, big effects is nessasary for everyone to know what is going on around them. it also plays into the combo mechanics. if a tiny red line went across the screen for the elementalists firewall, most people would miss it and therefore miss their opportunity to fire arrows through it or other things. When an elemental lays down a fire wall as of now, it's very clear what it is, so all you have to really pay attention to is what your launching through it, etc. hope that helps

Originally posted by SteeJanz

I think you are missing an important part of what Anet is trying to do.  They want you to be able to tell what skill others are using.  Having subtle hard to notice attacks would make it incredibly difficult to know when to apply a cross profession combo. 

Exactly this, how else can you know what skills to interupt and which are harmless.

Originally posted by SteeJanz

I think you are missing an important part of what Anet is trying to do.  They want you to be able to tell what skill others are using.  Having subtle hard to notice attacks would make it incredibly difficult to know when to apply a cross profession combo. 

This. It goes hand in hand with the 'watch the game, not the UI' mantra.

Originally posted by 77lolmac77

Yeah but the fireworks are so innovative

 

Yea the fireworks are innovative!!!!!!!! Oh em Gee 

LOok how stiff those flexible animations are would you imagine that.

Shizzle my nizzle.

I know they want to do combo skills, so it makes sense, but I do find all the flashes a little distracting, and it can be hard to target a certain mob in say a group of mobs when theirs flash everywhere...I will have to wait and see.  I hope I like the combat, I don't normally play stuff like it, but I am going to give it a go.

I am excited for WvWvW in GW2, I hope they do it right.

The visual aspect is axactly what Anet is trying to do with combat. Having you focus more on the battle than staring at your action bar or your targets cast bar. I for one love it. This also fits perfectly with the limited action bar. I cannot express how tired i am of managing 30 abilities or 3-5 action bars. I'd like to actually have fun playing.

If I remember correctly, they said something about wanting to tone down the spell effects.  This might not be the source of that quote but it at least seems to address the point somewhat.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/guild-wars-2-news/interview-with-eric-flannum-isaiah-cartwright-and-ryan-scott/

For what it's worth, and maybe it's because they were a warrior with a hammer, greatsword or axes, but I really felt like I could follow what the warrior was doing.  Sure it was flashy and there were big numbers, but this particular video didn't feel overwhelming to me.  Some of the elementalist/necromancer videos still seem like too much to me, especially in PVP.

It is also an important aspect of making Structured PvP a real e-sport. GW1's gvg battles were never very interesting to watch unless you were a longtime player of the game.

Originally posted by SteeJanz

I think you are missing an important part of what Anet is trying to do.  They want you to be able to tell what skill others are using.  Having subtle hard to notice attacks would make it incredibly difficult to know when to apply a cross profession combo. 

what would you prefer?

Originally posted by 77lolmac77

Yeah but the fireworks are so innovative

 

like this comment.

I think they said they were looking into toning the fireworks down a few months ago. I understand the need for visual cues, but some of these cues are overkill imho. Even subtle cues can be spotted easily after youve been playing for a while in other games.

I dont see how you see this Pro as a Con. For most of the games i cant even tell the difference between different skills. And i dont agree about the firework mess, i remember turning of spell effects in raids, pvp  while playing other games just to see whats going on my screen, as most of the skills are just different colored particles with similar animations. I see exactly the opposite in the GW2 videos. Maybe its just, you didnt get used to its style; as GW2's dash/blur effects look like oil paintings which i like very much. :)

I don't really have a problem with the "fireworks." As long as it's not so much that it's hard to see what's going on. I don't feel that's the case from that video.

after watching the combat i like the effects

Originally posted by Panossian

My biggest turn-off is this trend of adding rediculous, over the top partical effecs to every single attack move performed by every single class.  Is this what players really want?

Well, some of them anyway.  Some love to have the cost of their GPU justified.

Personally, I liked game engines that had hard chokes put on maximum particles displayed on-screen.

Originally posted by Kuppa

Originally posted by SteeJanz

I think you are missing an important part of what Anet is trying to do.  They want you to be able to tell what skill others are using.  Having subtle hard to notice attacks would make it incredibly difficult to know when to apply a cross profession combo. 

what would you prefer?

To use one example, the warrior in this video has a mobile spin/ whirlwind type attack. With the proper model animation, which it does have, it's very easy to see what move he/she is performing to combo off. The added "tornadoesque" effects obscuring the fight is what I don't really care for.

For caster classes you obviously need very distiguisable and obvious spells effects, also adding this effects to every melee attack is where I feel it goes over the top.

I like the combo idea (being a former ffxi player), but  I'd prefer a more traditional mmo feel and look to the combat. I seem to be in the minority though.  

I've never had a need for fireworks flying in my face to see what the emeny is doing. Looks like it's just a "z0mg! so innovative!" feature.