GW2 thoughts after playing: The history of MMO failure's.. w/a sprinkle of WoW talk edition

[ringthree]

and let's be honest, if you preordered and the game was ass, you'd probably be pretty damn vocal against it, since you paid money already

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

[ringthree]

A few thoughts I have had on GW2 (and MMO's in general, I have only seen reviews [good reviews] of GW2 so far). Cynical shit and more MMO game making theory to follow, just avoid if you have no interest in me being a "Negative Nancy".

An "open beta" is double speak for preview weekend. But they only give you the beginning. They don't give you the content you will spend 99% of your time doing. I wish more "open betas" would offer capped characters so you can try out the game that you spend most of the time on. The repetitive stuff. This is what SWTOR got so wrong. I have heard "end-game" in GW2 is awesome and that anyone that says it doesn't have end-game just doesn't "understand". When I hear people make that argument, it sends shivers down my spine.

Saying things are different ("leveling curve") just for the sake of difference isn't compelling. A leveling curve is how long it takes to get to the cap, not how long it takes to get to the next level. It really doesn't matter if you average them or they get progressively longer. Compelling game play is stuff I do, not stuff I don't think about while playing.

Graphically, GW2 is pretty sweet (it's definitely not perfect) but my cynical ass just comes to expect that by now. This used to be compelling to me. It just isn't anymore... not after Aion.

Almost all of the reviews I have read of GW2, and fuck, just about any MMO since Conan, only goes over the love of the hype, and very few go over serious concerns. Maybe if I read more reviews with concerns I would be more positive about the game. What kind of twisted world do I live in?

As a post-script, let me add that GW2 is the most compelling game I have seen since WoW (or FFXI for that matter, which I played way too long). It's better than some of the shit games I have seen, but it's definitely not the second coming that so many fucking hype-kids make the next MMO to come along out to be. The problem is that it doesn't have to be. It just has to be a little bit better than WoW. /shrug.

[Tonka]

After seeing and hearing all the hype of various games that have come and gone, I do not blame you in the least. I actually fully expected to be let down this past weekend. But I've honestly never been more excited for a daggum video game after having actually played it. So much to see and do and it was all fun doing it.

Obviously part of that is the thrill of a new game. However, I don't feel like I am justifying my purchase like I have with other games by telling myself things like "well it's just the starting experience and it'll get better later or at end-game." If GW2 is just like early levels for the rest of the game, I'd be one happy camper.

[vrumpt]

I actually think later levels will be way better than lower levels as far as quality of the content goes. One thing that I noticed after I got to Kessix Hills is how the number and quality of the DEs got better, and it seemed like there was always a DE near me there as opposed to the starter zones I played in where they were somewhat spread out. I was actually partially worried in the starter zones but that went away when I reached kessix hills and saw how many more DEs there were.

Also later zones will have dragons.

[Jakson]

R3s P.S. is pretty much spot on, and the bit about people talking about endgame when the only endgame played is PvP, which not everyone came to the game for. I'm not saying that I'm not willing to play the game, but if everyone keeps on being happy with yet another WoW experience with a few tweaks, we'll all be dead before we get a genuinely new experience.

[vrumpt]

On a related note, as opposed to every other major mmo launch that I was a part of recently, I did not see any GW2 vs. MMO talk rage in chat at all at any point during the weekend. I could just be lucky with my server or oblivious to chat, but I did not see any kind of that talk at all. It was great. This is what happens when you make something that can't be compared to anything else.

[ringthree]

I actually think later levels will be way better than lower levels as far as quality of the content goes. One thing that I noticed after I got to Kessix Hills is how the number and quality of the DEs got better, and it seemed like there was always a DE near me there as opposed to the starter zones I played in where they were somewhat spread out. I was actually partially worried in the starter zones but that went away when I reached kessix hills and saw how many more DEs there were.

Also later zones will have dragons.

ZOMG DRAGONS? Seriously? This is kind of my point about hype. In Skyrim you kill dragons like 5 minutes in. Dragons are not inherently compelling (it would be much easier to make games if they were). I bolded the part that I have a problem with. I have heard what many people "think" about the future of the game, without experience, and that always makes me take pause.

On a related note, as opposed to every other major mmo launch that I was a part of recently, I did not see any GW2 vs. MMO talk rage in chat at all at any point during the weekend. I could just be lucky with my server or oblivious to chat, but I did not see any kind of that talk at all. It was great. This is what happens when you make something that can't be compared to anything else.

Not to pick on you or anything, but I have heard this hype too. That the gameplay in GW2 is somehow so different that the community will be better. Remember, this wasn't an "open beta" so much as an old school "pre-pay for the game and get the demo disk". Your sample has no real control.

[vrumpt]

ZOMG DRAGONS? Seriously? This is kind of my point about hype. In Skyrim you kill dragons like 5 minutes in. Dragons are not inherently compelling (it would be much easier to make games if they were).

Dude GW2 lives up to the hype. Just take the stick out of ur butt and pre purchase like the rest of us.

Also guild wars dragons are made on a Dungeons and Dragons scale; they dwarf everything. That's why I brought that up.

[Qalbert]

akyrim had flying lizards, GW2 has dragons

[vrumpt]

Not to pick on you or anything, but I have heard this hype too. That the gameplay in GW2 is somehow so different that the community will be better. Remember, this wasn't an "open beta" so much as an old school "pre-pay for the game and get the demo disk". Your sample has no real control.

Its more than just combat, its more than just 1 thing standing by itself to prop it up with the rest of the game being a wow clone. Its everything, the whole package. Its done right and finally somebody has done it good.

[Eanae]

Being critical of the game is all fine and dandy if you weren't talking hypothetical feelings out of your ass. We get it, you're upset you have to pay to play a beta. Until you've tried it yourself please feel free to withhold your nonexistent judgements and "best guesses". Come right on back when you've played the game and have an actual opinion on it. Until then cut this shit out.

[ringthree]

Look, I am not trying to be a Negative Nancy as I said above, but Vrumpt and Qalbert are seriously the exact problem I was talking about. You are talking about things that do not have objective meaning ("dragons") as if they do. And people only do that when they are relying purely on hype, and not really anything they can point to but their "feelings" or "thoughts" on the game.

[altwight]

Anyone who has been following GW2 with a sense of "this guy is just like any other game that has been release" let me say this to you: You're a let down.

The moment I heard about GW2 my heart was sold that it would be a true next gen MMO and that is exactly what we got. Next gen to the max.

[Eanae]

You're in a section dedicated to the game. There's going to be starry eyed fandom. Every MMORPG has had it and I find it just as utterly stupid how far people go to defend a game while ignoring flaws or pulling the x game is so much better than y online before release and the entire game is put to the test. But you can't really come in to the gw2 section and then get upset when people are excited for a game that's coming to the end of its development cycle when its been in development since 2007.

[Qalbert]

Look, I am not trying to be a Negative Nancy as I said above, but Vrumpt and Qalbert are seriously the exact problem I was talking about. You are talking about things that do not have objective meaning ("dragons") as if they do. And people only do that when they are relying purely on hype, and not really anything they can point to but their "feelings" or "thoughts" on the game.

missing the fucking point man. have you not seen the dragons in this game? they're not cool because they're dragons, they're cool because they are fucking colossal bosses requiring the cooperation of tons of players to fight. Obviously saying "if creature=dragon then win" is silly, but discrediting the dragons in GW2 because skyrim had dragons too !!!111! is ludicrous.

[tol]

why
do
people
respond
to
ringthree

[vrumpt]

Look, I am not trying to be a Negative Nancy as I said above, but Vrumpt and Qalbert are seriously the exact problem I was talking about. You are talking about things that do not have objective meaning ("dragons") as if they do. And people only do that when they are relying purely on hype, and not really anything they can point to but their "feelings" or "thoughts" on the game.

More shit you are pulling out of your ass, but i'll play your game. I do have actual shit I can point to on the topic of dragons (dragons as a topic is completely moot, but just playing your game). Google up The Shatterer and Tequatl the Sunless. There are your dragons, and they are the smaller dragons that GW2 is going to have at launch.

[ringthree]

Being critical of the game is all fine and dandy if you weren't talking hypothetical feelings out of your ass. We get it, you're upset you have to pay to play a beta. Until you've tried it yourself please feel free to withhold your nonexistent judgements and "best guesses". Come right on back when you've played the game and have an actual opinion on it. Until then cut this shit out.

Hmm, that's kind of weird. You (and a couple others) have had posts about "feelings" about this game, while I have tried to be a bit more analytical (maybe I have failed). I would like to give the game a play, but as I have been burned over and over, I am going to avoid paying for the game just to get the 1-20 experience before the full game is released. You can have an opinion without playing a game. We do it all the time. I don't know exactly, what you want me to "cut out".

Maybe I am too cynical, like I buy the "anti-hype", but honestly, I haven't said anything negative at all about GW2. I even said that it was the most compelling game since WoW (or FFXI for me). I do believe it is good, but I believe I view that as objectively and dispassionately as possible. I don't get my panties in a bunch just because people like or do not like the game. So maybe, instead, you should "cut this shit out" with the hype until you have completely experience the game and not just a sliver of it.

/shrug

[Qalbert]

quit posting in the section if all you are going to do is bitch and moan and act like a twat.

[ringthree]

You're in a section dedicated to the game. There's going to be starry eyed fandom. Every MMORPG has had it and I find it just as utterly stupid how far people go to defend a game while ignoring flaws or pulling the x game is so much better than y online before release and the entire game is put to the test. But you can't really come in to the gw2 section and then get upset when people are excited for a game that's coming to the end of its development cycle when its been in development since 2007.

I will agree with this. Except you have the people getting upset reversed. Again, /shrug.

(Honestly, when people get upset that someone is "questioning" a game, then to me that is a strong indication that reality and analytical reasoning have gone out the window. I am just looking to see if I should spend $60 on a game. I am not looking for the next father of my children. Everyone is just ignoring the compliments I have already given the game itself, and only focusing on some random questions/concerns I have, as if I am talking about their children.)