Guild Wars 2: Any Takers?
POSTED BY: HKCavalier
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 22:55
VIEWED: 5342
PAGE 2 of 2
All I've said is that I don't really want to play it, and that I have doubts it can deliver on the promises you're saying it's making. If it works for you, great, have fun, I'm still not going to play it.
I have never been adverse to having an opinion about something without ever having tried it. For example, I'm not really partial to the Twilight series of books. In this case, my not wanting to play GW2 is amplified by having not liked the first game. Side note, my account on WoW is still active (yet I don't really play, kinda burned out on the same ol' MMORPG leveling format), and I've never done a pick up group there either. My comments stem from the experiences that my friends would complain about, and it turned me off from doing any sort of raiding or instances in WoW ever. My gear is terrible. And I don't really care that it is.
This is fairly typical for conversations people have with me. I measure my unpleasantness in units of fire ants.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Hey Frem,
I'm gonna try nudging you toward this game. I mean, I think it's amazingly fun and beautiful and engrossing and all, but the interesting thing--interesting to you and me, that is--is how the game rewards cooperation. No need to group--in fact, the only reason I'm seeing to join a group is to keep track of each other's little dots on the mini-map and to have a private chat channel--because you and everyone else in the world are just in the same boat. Cooperation makes everything easier and makes major challenges possible sooner. This is the only MMO I've played where seeing another player going after the same boss/node/objective as you is actually a completely welcome event. All the resource nodes are attuned to each player, so everyone can get at them without competition. And everyone gets credit for every kill as long as they do some damage to the baddie before it goes down. With bosses and major events there's a Gold/Silver/Bronze level of award, meted out according to your contribution. Gone are the days when you work your way through a ton of mobs to get to the rich silver vein only to have some dwarf riding a dragon steal it from you and /laugh.
The other thing that brings the community together is the game's "downed state" mechanic. When you lose all your health you enter a "downed state." At that point you can throw rocks or attempt to bandage yourself if no one is actively trying to slit your throat, or use a set of class specific skills like a thief's smoke bomb to evade attackers briefly or a guardian's pulse of light energy to knock enemies down. It's great to whittle an enemy down to next to nothing and go down and still be able to beat 'em. I've been in fights with a crowd of mole men, say, and gone down repeatedly only to rise again and again as one or another of my foes falls. It can really feel like an epic brawl that way.
But the great part about the downed state is that other players, anyone around, can revive you if they can just have a few seconds without getting killed. So with a big boss fight there's a rhythm that sets in with folks regularly stepping out of the brawl to revive fallen comrades.
The whole process of interdependence works so smoothly and is so intuitive that you can practically feel the goodwill coming from your monitor (okay, maybe not you, but I can lol). GW2 removes all the competition (in PvE, o' course, plenty of competition--but it's competition in a group on group context and the PvE everyone's been playing has strengthened your bond with your team mates) and what's left is a lot of happy folks playing a game just because it's fun.
I used to think that Blizzard were the masters of psychology, but ANet have utterly trumped 'em with this game.
Anyway, that's my schpiel. Take it for what's it worth. Granted, this is such a great game it really begs to be enjoyed with friends and I'm parenthetically desperate to get some 4 or so of my nearest and dearest to play with me--so far all my friends but one have been throwing no end of excuses at me and he got himself a new gf so we've played once--half of 'em are still paying monthly fees on other games that they feel the need to "get their money's worth" before their subscriptions run out, poor bastards.
So, there y'have it. I'll be on the Ehmery Bay server going by the name of Chillaxe. 
HKCavalier
Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I'll admit the Charr seem interesting and I'm amused by your name (possibly a Charr yourself?). But, another MMORPG... They're all so SIMILAR at the basic level. Some have more features than others, but they distill down to a general sameness.
I suppose if I weren't burned out on MMORPGS, I might play Guild Wars 2.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME