What kind of gamer are you?

[harbinger]

I found an interesting poll on a french site.

Here are the result of the poll...

I play mostly ...
PvE only (26.08 %)
PvP only (4.91 %)
Both PVP and PVE without distinction (13.54 %)
Both, but I prefer PVE (38.26 %)
Both, but I prefer PVP (13.75 %)
I am only here to farm, chat etc... (3.45 %)

I thought it would be fun to see if the result would be the same here.

Vote as you like, don't cheat by looking at the results first ;) and tell all you friends to come and vote here. It is important to know ;) (as it might orient future GW)

[Ray Of Light]

Yay PvE ! :D

( That is all. )

[Grim Daddy]

I do PvE for mostly the sake of finding loot, elite skills, challenging bosses/creatures, & secret locations.

For PvP, I sometimes do the RA or TA. But I do most of my PvP-ing in the Resource Arenas & Holiday PvP Arenas.

[I C U]

PVE. My game style of choice.

Did a little PVP a while back when Guild Wars first came out but did not like it enough to want to continue.

[elsalamandra]

PVE FTW

[Anathor]

Wow. Those stats surprise me. Most of the conversations I've heard among GW players bagged PvE and praised PvP. I kinda felt like I was abnormal or anti-social because I don't really like PvP unless I am playing GvG w/ guildmates. I really enjoy PvE. It was for the PvE that I bought GW in the first place. It's interesting to see that it seems like many others feel about the same.

[STINGER]

I found an interesting poll on a french site.

Here are the result of the poll...

I play mostly ...
PvE only (26.08 %)
PvP only (4.91 %)
Both PVP and PVE without distinction (13.54 %)
Both, but I prefer PVE (38.26 %)
Both, but I prefer PVP (13.75 %)
I am only here to farm, chat etc... (3.45 %)

I thought it would be fun to see if the result would be the same here.

Vote as you like, don't cheat by looking at the results first ;) and tell all you friends to come and vote here. It is important to know ;) (as it might orient future GW)

You can poll every fansite and get similar "heavier PvE" results over and over. There are a couple of reason and one major one is most the PvPers will end up funneling to one or two sites where most the top PvPers hang like Idiot Savants [iQ] or Guild Wars Guru and a couple others. Most heavy PvPers dont care a bit for PvE so any place that is mostly PvE talk will turn them off.

GWOnline
RPGStars
KT's
The Guild Hall
..etc

All of these have thier PvPers...even myslef, Guardian, Wanderer who are for the most part here for PvP still like to get out thiere with buddys in the no stress environment of PvE and kick around, maybe get a few "titles" and some neet lookin things here and there. i doubt you will find too many 100% PvPers on any of those sites above except due to alot of free time for posting.

If you ran this poll on iQ's site it would be all PvP and PvP mainly answers, maybe some Both but PvE mainly that are there trying to pick up knowledge to make that move towards more PvP.

The "PvP Only" peeps are a rather small part of this game but they are very vocal and are a big target for ANet.....The games backbone is its PvP, its what ANet uses the most for advertising.


Keep in mind also.....less than 30% of those polled dont PvP! Anyone that does both only needs a couple good expierences for them to get hooked hard.

[harbinger]

:wink: Thanks for your insight Stinger.

From
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/

The Campfire
PvE Builds and Discussion ----> Posts 90,327


Gladiator's Arena
PvP Builds and Discussion ----> Posts 37,479

Can't fight the numbers however... ;)

90,327 + 37,479 = 127,806

Percentage : 71% of the post are PVE related. But as you said, I suppose PVE players are just l@m3r that have nothing better to do than clogging valuable forum space for super duper PVP players...

I understand. We are dead weights ;)
We are negative income for ArenaNet and our only pleasure is to sadistically torture developpers in doing things that are not fun and waste their time... :)
It is sad for PVPer to be bothered by so much PVE nolifers :)

See? That's what PVE players have to cope for everytime they get in the dance :)
It makes me feel like a total freaks... :roll:

If it still is the case for GW3, well, I might as well consider Factions as my last GW related purchase.
After sometime I already had a doubt with GWP.
Wondered if I should take GWF.
Now I don't know if I will take GW3 if PVE shrinken more.
That and NeverwinterNight 2 coming soon... :)

If it wasn't for the friends I gathered in my guild and some I gathered here in the forum, I think I would have let GW take the dust since february...

Ah forget it... Maybe I am too stupid, too lonewolf to understand all that. It's just that I am growing bored faster than in GWP... My small guild and its small alliance is unable to capture cities, that means half the fun of faction is dead to me. And the other half of it has not much appeal to me now.

[Dumbfinger]

I voted "both, but I prefer PvP" and I'm sure most of my buds feel the same!

[Moo Moo]

yup, only takes so long before pve becomes totally lame

[Stretch]

I play 90% of the time in PVE. I do enjoy PVP but only when i am winning. I admit that makes me a poor sport, but unfort i am that competitive that i dislike pvp when i suck at it. Which as my skillset grows it gets better but still gets frustrating. Right now i am in a pvp mode in that i spend an hr or 2 a night in the comp arenas trying out some builds, like a geohammer E/W or my rit/n. My problem is finding fun builds that are successful and then finding a group of people/friends that i can rely on to be as good or better than i to do well

[elsalamandra]

I have said it before in a previous post PvE'ers are nearly always considered subnormal by Most PvP'ers.

Thats really lame man ans Anet should give us PvE'ers more scope and selection.

Look at the lame storyline of Factions. Come on my 11 year old daughter sould have come up with a better story line.

Harbringer, dont despair mate i think more or less on the same lines as you.

My Guild is very small too but we have a strong tie with the 9 members we have.

I have had the misfortune of entering into a war of words with 5 hard core PvP'ers in a previous guild and I know exactly how demoralising recieving such negativity from these 'snobs' feels like.

If Anet continue to 'nerf' PvE the way they are doing it now, i am certain their sales will plummet down instead of up.

Talk about democracy huh. No doubt my post here will be criticised most profusely but here it is and thats how I feel as well.

PvE has had a shadow of neglect ever since Sorrows was overkilled by farming. Minion Masters' skills nerfed etc

If farming is the main worry of Anet, many other things can be introduced to counteract this.

The best solution is simply to fix area that you can only enter with a full party, eg u/w, you could only enter it with 8 in your party thus reducing the duo 55hp'ing and even soloing it.

I guess the solution is more feaseable for Anet is to boost the area of PvP to put us the PvE'ers off enjoying the PvE side of the game.

I have to agree that if this is going to be the trrend to continue making PvE a reducing aspect of this game, Anet will not be getting a single penny off me ever again.

Look at Factions, I finished the game in 3 days with my canthan char.

I guess there are others who could have finished it in less, so what is the venue available once you finish.

Embark into obtaining crappy titles like the wisdom one. LOL how can you identify 100 rare items, when you have possibly identified more than that with your tyrian chars.

Exploration, again, LOL the map is a doctrine of confusion with so much brown and black.

Drunkard title, again, LOL. What is the point of this title. Come on, this is as pointless as lighting candles in the wind.

I could go on commenting on the other titles here but its as unproductive as having a handbrake in a canoe.

All in all PvE has suffered such a blow that soon not many players will belong to thr \GW community.

Look at the Deep and Urgoz Warren.

Elites Zones, yes indeed. What is so appealing about them? I am still to discover what. Spend several hours in a 12 man team killing super AI bots that drop super crap items with chests that the majority of time only yield more crap at 1,5k a shot which turns out that in the majority of cases you end up leaving the mission because players either get error 7 or get cheesed off at either the drops or the lenght of time of the mission.

So yes, I am dissapointed as well.

I do hope that Anet Staff read this posts that we PvE'ers write and take them into consideration when they decide to give more quarter to the PvP side of the game.

By the way are there any other on-line game similar to this one?

All for now .........

[Moo Moo]

It seems like PvE'ers always make themselves out to be victims or idiots. I play PvE alot too, but I prefer PvP cause it is actually a challenge. I have 8 PvE characters, and I cant even bring myself to finish factions with the last 4. It just gets lame in the end.

However, I'm not calling people who play PvE idiots or noobs or whatever you feel you are called. I just think you should move on cause you are missing the part of the game that is actually what the game is made for, and for which all the skill balancing is going on: PvP.

What I do find stupid, is people wanting uber spells and seperate the skill sets of PvE and PvP. If you want to play PvE with a bazillion spells and spells that are so ubar you can drop 500 groups of monsters with it at once, with bosses for which you have to grind about 2 million hours before you even have a chance at beating them....GO PLAY WOW.

Somehow it seems to me that people who play PvE only are frustrated cause they cant make a level 921370403 character and brag about it, while there actually are ranks for PvP play people brag with.

[elsalamandra]

See what I mean?

I ONLY want to say that perhaps some people may think that PvE'ers use the 'I am a victim of the PvP'ers Remarks, Criticisms & Insults). I do not agree that this game is solely and exclusively for the Elite PvP Squads of super human players. If so, why the PvE element of the game? That it is being reduced, yes no doubt about that.

I say quite proudly that i do not want to belong to this Elite Squad of Super Human Players as my experience with crossing paths with them has only led to throwing of insults and after all this is just a game. Perhaps the way things are going in GW, soon there will be no PvE at all and then it can be a PvP bliss whereupon the game will have a very big drop in players and how will ANet cope with this.

I still have to see the statistics to show out of every player in the GW community who plays which side and to what degree.

It is very easy to come on this medium express either criticisms or praise without really having facts.

Why does it always have to be the PvE'ers who get criticsed.

[harbinger]

Again, Mikel is the rough tough poster :)

We are not talking grinding, earning money or gaining supa armor.

As you may have remarked (or again maybe not) we are talking about the fun factor in PVE.

You might have to admit that people have tried PVP and found it as lame as you found PVE lame. Humanity is like that.

Personnaly I never got the point of deathmatch in CS. I am a pretty good player, but running and killing people in the same small map again and again is not my idea of fun.

But at least, with CS and HL, Valve got enough sense to separate both games once and for all because fun in HL is not the same fun than in CS.

If Valve where to do the same as ArenaNet in GW, they would diminish the accuracy of the crossbow in HL each time someone in CS is blaming too much kills on snipers.

But now that you explained your view, I realize I might have taken the wrong train.

What I wanted was a game that would be fun both in PVE and PVP.

What I found is that my money might be used only to enhance the PVP experience and I feel sorry for that.

Most people praise WOW for its PVE (4 millions and counting) and people praise GW for its PVP (1 millions last time I heard about).

I hope someday someone will decide to mix both (and no fee) and make a game fun for both aspect, or do like Valve... use the GW engine to do 2 games, one for PVP, the other one for PVE. But well... who am I kidding.

Until then, I will stop having PVE ideas as it seems to bother our estimed hosts.
I will only post bugs as suggested in the tech line.

#sigh# NWN2 is my personnal messiah...

[Stretch]

The idea that you can go from 0 - 20 in a couple hours of gameplay and then complete the pve chapter including all quests in a couple days is almost making a farce of the PVE that we grew to enjoy with Prophecies. I am not saying that moving up to lvl 20 early and experiencing the game mostly as a lvl 20 is bad, BUT i would like to see some variety. One thing that the skill quests provided in the Prophecies campaign was profession specific quests which would even provide you not the same ol thing for your burgeoning character. I created my rit the 1st day and have tried to get the gumption to bring my tank and necromancer through but i already grow tired because the quests are the exact same each time.

On a side note, not all the balancing has PvP in mind, like the nerfing of the mm as it was generated by sorrows runs. As well with the soloing of UW caused many skills to be nerfed.

[malak di asana]

I am still pretty new, not having joined this game until several months in. I will admit, I only play PVE, and that is the sole item that drew my attention to this game, although at the time I would not have known what to call it. The Prophecies campaign held a tremedous amount of PVE content, that I only just recently finished. I am not a hard core player, but until my learning curve was high enough I stayed away from the higher levels, and focused on learning each of the professions, taking each type of character to level 20. Once done, I had a pretty good idea of how skills could be built, and what skills I needed to stay away from.
At that point I made my first attempt(last also) at PVP. I played for a solid day, in the north shiverpeak arena. It just does not appeal to me. I have since sat and watched several guild battles, but honestly chasing after characters to kill them over and over is not appealing. i know the appeal is to see if you build is good, and effective, but that just does not interest me.
With Factions, I can say I am pretty disappointed. I would rather have cross over characters start in Luxon or Kurzick, and build more content in the beginning for starting characters.
Also, I cannot conclusively say the game was designed for one type or another. I do know that when you start with a PVE character, in Pre sear, you do content first, then a short stint of PVP.
After this release, it may indeed be the case that Anet chooses to build the game specifically for PVP, and if that is the case then I would be sad. As it is, not much about Factions has really caught me the way Prophecies has. The story line is pretty easy, and other than normal game play frustrations(weak stupid henchies, and uber strength enemies) the game is pretty lacking. I decided to spend this morning really committing myself to it though to see if I could have a change of heart. I started in Vizunah, which is as far as I had gotten to this point, and am now in Luxon Territory in just a few hours. Now I do have the benefit of having played, and can make pretty good guesses about the layout of spaces, so if I got into trouble, I would usually find next nearest outpost to start again. But it all feels like something to do, until you start Factions battles. In prophecies, I never felt like it was building up to get me ready to PVP, but in Factions that is pretty much the case. Hurry thru the beginning, get to faction, build faction points, start alliance battles. Now I have not paid a tremendous amount of attention to Factions as I said, but I figured the idea was that the factions would fight for control of the land, but so far I have not really seen the factions line move much. It appears to be in the same place I saw the first day.
So hopefully, Anet willdevote a bit more to PVE, but if not, then perhaps they are content with less players, and moving the PVE segment to another game.

[Grim Daddy]

I’ve become so sick of people’s ranting & bickering about which aspect of the game is better than the other or which one is outright cr@p that I formulated my own ranting about both aspects of the game, which I’m sure you’ll all hate me for (Yes, I do realize this is rather an ironic thing for me to do). I know I’ve said some of these things before, but I had intentionally left some of these things out because I had thought they were too harsh as well as having some new experiences that I’d like to share.

-> Let’s start with PvP:

...Elite PvP Squads of super human players.

Aside from the few innovative commanders (such as STINGER), the rest could hardly be called elite. They hide behind their precious rank emotes, with the misguided in the belief that it means something important (here’s the link (http://forums.knights-templar.com/viewtopic.php?t=3221) to remind everyone what rank really means, in case someone forgot). This type of PvPer is like a drone, in the sense that they will continue to use the same FotM build over & over until there’s some new Flavor.

I’ve heard IWAY-ers cry foul on the Guru just because someone engineered a set of Warden builds that effectively neutered their ability to fight, so whining isn’t exclusive to PvE. It wasn’t the first time I’d heard such complaints from the PvP crowd & it won’t be the last.

It’s when a build is clichéd by players the PvP circuit for months on end that I just get bored of that aspect of the game. It just gets sad after a while, when I go at least 5-0 for dueling a player using a FotM or someone with the stereotypical mindset of “uber damage.” It just gets embarrassing when I see them coming after me (with the same build) in the next match. I’d ask them: “You were 5-0 dueling me last time & you’re still using the same build. What do you think is going to happen this time?” But they never listen & I give them a thorough beating, before I take a long break from the PvP side of the game. The worst part is I’m just begging to be caught with my pants down (metaphorically speaking of course) with my current PvP builds by every profession in Prophecies and Factions. It gets to the point where I’d have a more challenging & fun time facing a clone army of Combine soldiers with a crowbar (I just had to keep up the HL^2 references):

http://www.planethalflife.com/images/photo/big/20060329.jpg

->As for PvE:

To be fair, the PvE side of the game isn’t exactly filled with saints either. There are some preconceptions by the “high end” players on the PvE side that just annoy me to no end. Below are quite possibly the most annoying of those preconceptions that I’ve run into:

Necromancer:
—Blood Magic is a support role only.
—MM is the only way to do Death Magic.

Monk:
—Healing Monks are the only acceptable Monks, unless specified otherwise.
—The only acceptable type of Protection Monk is a Bonder.

Elementalist:
—Fire Magic is the only acceptable element to use.
—Nuking is the only way to use Fire Magic.

Warrior:
—Defensive (or “Stance” if you will) Tanking is the only way to Tank. Balanced (in damage & defensive output) & Offensive Tanks are not acceptable.

Ranger:
—BP is the only acceptable pet build.
—Trapping is the only acceptable non-pet build.

Mesmer:
—Go Away!

Ritualist:
—Restoration Magic & Spawning Power are the only acceptable masteries to use.

Assassin:
—See: Mesmer.

In General:
—Never use anything other than the following for a team: 2-3 Monks, 2 Warriors, 2 “Nukers,” & whatever else can be scrounged up.
—Always using a Bonder for the Fissure of Woe (trust me you’ve got problems if you need a Bonder down there).

->Closing Thoughts on PvE & PvP Rants:

As you all can see, there plenty of reasons why I hate sticking around either element of the game for a prolonged period of time.

One of the things I enjoy about this game is the challenge of battle & the multiple methods that can be used on a given situation. However, I have been shunned by “high end” PvEers for thinking too much like a PvPer & vise versa or I get shunned for coming up with something original, which is really a shame for those rare occasions when I can bring something useful or new to the table.

Simply brushing off one side of the game as being lame & not observing that part of the game can (& usually will) have its pitfalls, especially if one can learn something from that aspect.

I believe that there’s more than one way to skin a cat… but the cat isn’t going to like any of them.

->But there are some definite perks to both sides of the game:

In PvP, I get to test my builds out against other players & see how I stack up. And with things like the Resource Arenas, I don’t have to wait around looking for a group or wait until enough people in my guild get online just to get into a large map with lots of people on it.

At least in PvE, I can pick another area to fight in that has creatures with different fighting styles. It’s also acceptable for me to replace actually people with henchmen; which leads me to something that was mentioned here earlier.

->Regarding the Henchmen:

While the ones for the Prophecies Campaign seem to be improved, their Factions’ counterparts seem to be lacking in the brains department. Take for example the Healer Monks that will run into the frontlines to use Healing Touch on their fellow fighter. Sure, the Ritualist henchmen makes up for this & an all henchmen team is somewhat manageable in Cantha, but a team is still only as strong as its weakest link.

I recall Gaile Gray speaking on this & commenting along the lines of they don’t want to make them too good to encourage players to work together. There is one major problem I see with this idea: It’s often better to teach someone by example rather than giving that person a delusion that makes him/her think they is doing good because a Straw-man was set right next to that person to make him/her look good by comparison (kind of like looking at two piles of turd & trying to figure out which one is better, in that sense). That is to say that ArenaNet dumbed down the AI to the point where there’s no serious standards for the player populous to contend/compete with. You’re not fooling anyone ArenaNet, not even the people who review you: like GameTrailers.com (http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?fs=1&id=2438).

When I was learning the arts of the Monk, I had no human mentor I was that bad. I ended up having to turn to Lina & Alesia for guidance. After I learned all I could from there example, I started to extrapolate from what I’d learned, so that I could exceed them (& eventually I did exceed them). As it stands now in Factions, there are no decent role models for the new Monks to observe the basics from. Though I’m currently tutoring someone in-game about being a Monk primary; I fear my actions to aid the community alone won’t be enough.

->Overall, I think this thread has brought out the worst in me, which is probably because I’ve never had much tolerance for intolerance (Again, the irony flows out of me today). I’m aware that I’ve offended at least both extreme ends of the PvE & PvP camps (there’s an implicit method to the madness). But I hope if I get my point across to one person that having an open mind is typically the way to go, then all of my insulting actions here will be worth it.

[harbinger]

Nobody will hate Grim for telling the truth ;) (I for instance will be considered as a PVE wuss for some time I guess)

Grim, I agree with your gospel. I think I might have been influenced by answers about how PVP people didn't give a thought about PVE...

I know ArenaNet did GW so people could move from PVE to PVP, at least, that's the common conception. (And I know how you abhor common conception)

But people are diverse. Some like PVP above all, other like both aspect, with various preferences, some like to go crazy in PVE etc... You talked about tolerance, here it goes.

I don't know if ArenaNet realizes it, but they touched a larger public than what they intended to. Maybe they targeted the "PVP only" and "both, but prefer PVP" population but they touch far more people than that.

I have two independant polls, one in a french forum that I didn't do, I just found it (call it local source) and one here (I consider it more international) that show the same profile...

People may think what they want, what I see in my numbers is that population touched by ArenaNet is much more complex than that of a CS type of gaming community.

:roll: What I mainly wanted to see with that simple (yet controversial) question is what GW represent for people in the community.

What conclusion I draw:
With their economic system and marketing ArenaNet might have reached far more people than it thought it would be possible.

Now, whatever ArenaNet intend to do next, I really hope they will try not to alienate any part of their faithful community and consolidate their asset.

[Grim Daddy]

It has been my impression that the characteristic change of the PvE Maps between Chapters 1 & 2 was to weigh in more on quality and a little less on quantity. I mean, if one thinks about it, all the big paydays (such as weapons, raw materiels, & ect.) doesn’t really start up until the Crystal Desert for Prophecies. On the other hand, the big paydays pretty much start as soon as one hits the mainland of Cantha for Factions. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are tinkering with the concept of quality vs. quantity when it comes to PvE Maps as they go from one chapter to the next. In which case, Factions was probably weighing in as heavily towards quality as ArenaNet dared to do without angering PvE-ers too much, while Prophecies was trying to do the opposite.

I do agree with you in that ArenaNet did touch base with more audiences than it probably intended to, considering that Sorrows Furnace was created to expand into Prophecies due to an unexpected number of people willing to continue playing the PvE side of the game (or so I heard). For the sake of turning a buck at least, I doubt ArenaNet is going to do any massive **** job to either side of the Guild Wars community.

As for my rants on PvP & PvE: It was intended to show that both extremes are not so different, in the idea that both sides rarely listen to anyone but themselves. Honestly, it’s not going to kill a hardcore PvP-er to go out into the wilderness to try out some new builds against something he/she has a tough time against & perhaps gain some gold &/or resources while he/she is at it. Conversely, it’s not going kill a hardcore PvE-er to take a break & watch a game on the Observer Mode with a beverage of his/her choice; although they may see something hilarious & spill their drink or spay how much ever of it was in their mouth onto the screen, as a result.

[I C U]

Here is my side of the story...

I am PvE only as that is my playing style of choice for now. I have nothing against the PvP side of the game. I have nothing against any of the changes that have been made in the game.

I am just a casual player, I enjoy my time with the game, it gives me a break from reality, which is what I am looking for when I hit the icon on my desktop.

I thank A-net each and every time it loades and I am able to run around and kill or be killed by whatever enemy pops in front of me at the moment.

I don't care what changes they make to skills, as I am not looking for the super build, only entertainment. I don't give a whoot for being the richest, having the super title, having the highest PvP emote, or any of that type of stuff. Entertainment is the key, It is a game and if you are being entertained then it is doing it's job properly.

I see good and bad on both sides of the game, just because PvP is not my style of play doesn't make it any worse than PvE it is there because everyone likes to play in different ways, and I respect that.

Even though some would/will argue that the content of Prophecies for PvE is superior to that of Factions, I don't see it that way. I ran 5 characters through Prophecies, all at the same time. and you know what they all did the same missions to get there with the exception of a few quests in pre-sear and around the old ascalon area. Other than that all of the quests, mission, and bonus missions where completely the same with each and every one of them.

I have yet to finish the game in factions with one of my characters, but what I am doing is the same as what I have always done. I click the icon on my desktop, the window opens, I type a pasword, the game opens, I chose a character, and thank A-net for taking me away from reality for a little while.

Will I ever PvP? Maybe some day but it will be for the same reason I PvE, which is entertainment, and at that time I will thank A-net for that as well.

My $ .02 worth

[Sir Ention]

I dont care to get into all that jazz...I just know I go where my guild takes me and prefer PVE, but I like AB so...

[elsalamandra]

I have stayed a bit neutral on this thread as i did not want tp neither place on a pedestal us PvE'ers and degrade the hard core PvP'ers.

Why just cannot we have the best of both worlds like in prophecies.

Jesus Christ almighty!

I know Harbringer has said this before.

Regardless on which side of the fence you are on (pve or pvp) or simply in the middle, lets not forget that we are the players, together with countless others that have forked out the cash (dollars, pounds, yen etc) and have boosted the coffers of Anet.

They want to make pve redundant, fine go ahead and do it. Simple.

They want to make this wonderful game a PvP game. fine go ahead and do it. Simple.

Whatever the decission may be, they, Anet, could make it known once and for all rather than making so much fooling propaganda like when the conception of Factions was commencing.

Yes its true that the graphics are A1, but come on, and sorry to repeat myself again, the story line of Factions was one of a B movie of a B movie.

It was very short compared to Prophesies and even the main character had the name chosen i similarity, Togo.

PvE has to go (ToGo).

I am purely and utterly dissapointed with factions, and it may be said what do you expect for £30.00.

I created a canthan char, and in 3 days, i finished the game.

I took my other chars through it as well more or less in the same time.

Farming which seemed like an alternative passtime, is now fixed with monsters having super enhanced radars and come for you from distances.

I have to say that fixing the bug of the 'book trick' etc was indeed a very well done job since that was really lame.

Titles.

Some are good ones to get others really suck big time.

Take for instance the drunkard one.

May sound fun to us more mature players but come on some, ( a fair amount I reckon), are players under the age of 16 years.

Whether we like it or not, the seed of the implictions of this titleis being sewn in their minds, 'its cool to be drunk'.

I myself have 2 daughters who play this game and to be honest, I am not very chuffed witht that title.

All this titles palabre could have been so simplified if Anet would have introduced emotes like those of PvP and based it solely on XP points and progression in the PvE aspect of the Game (quests, missions exploration).

Simple and not departing from a similar principle of that of the PvP emotes.

Sorry if I am bragging here or perhaps even procrastinating a bit but I am expressing my opinion here and be no means do I want to seen as if I have something against the PvP'ers. Far from it, both can co-exist in harmony I think but I am afraid to say, the balance is tipping towards the PvP side of things and this will only lead to PvE'ers like myself in leaving GW and search for better rpgs.

It seems that a new rpg is coming out soon in beta.

Check out this site (sorry for the negative propaganda here)

www.cabalonline.com

Looks cheap maybe, or even a Guild Wars wannabe but I am defenitely broadening my horizons.

All for now .........

[Grim Daddy]

PvE & PvP Content:

As for ArenaNet ignoring the PvE part of the game, I will have to disagree.

Thanks to the Zaishen Battle Isles; RA, TA, GvG, & the HoH have become a Core experience, which means that it any person can pick up any Chapter to Guild Wars & get these PvP experiences. This had stripped Chapter 1 of any seriously PvP arenas, since the ones in Old Ascalon & the Northern Shiverpeaks were never taken too seriously and are the last ones still in existence in Prophecies. They had even put in a PvE area in place of the HoH for ToPK. As a result, Chapter 1 is (for the most part) homogeneously PvE. These arenas were something unique to Chapter 1, which made them something extraordinary & engaging. It’s through the action of perpetuating the same arenas throughout all the Chapters that these arenas have become the mundane & bland.

To compensate for this loss, it would appear that ArenaNet seems to want to balance out the content between PvP & PvE, so that both camps are satisfied. Given the homogeneous nature of Prophecies, it wouldn’t be unexpected that there would be an outcry claiming that ArenaNet has gone too far and has butchered the PvE side of the game, when all they’re doing is trying to do is breathe some life in the other aspect of the game and even try to balance the content between the two sides.

But this compensation didn’t come without a price. ArenaNet more than likely faced the scarcity of the volume of information that could be made for each chapter, as well as the scarcity of time (this is often a problem among many businesses that set up such short time frames for their work). As a result, they opted for much more challenging and rewarding PvE areas over having a lot of PvE areas that would be so poorly put together that someone could farm the area alone, despite the monsters there being equal or higher levels. Sure the campaign itself may be shorter, but at least ArenaNet tried to make it more challenging & interesting for players.

Even with the scales leaning a little more toward the PvP aspect in Factions; the PvE element still outweighs the PvP part by far and away, with its high powered bosses & quick responding patrols. I know that some people may not like these new aspects introduced for Factions but I do. The reasoning behind this is that it makes for much more believable to have bosses be more powerful than their henchmen & have the enemy henchmen be coordinated enough not to get overrun by 1-3 players using farming builds.

The Story:

Storylines have never been ArenaNet’s strong point.

But in defense of ArenaNet, the story does have a very eastern feel to it, in the sense that it deals with shades of gray more than ones of black and white.

Pumping out a story of that scale in that short of a time (by the way, the story must also conform to the design of the PvE areas, which can kill the creative writing process) is a daunting task for any one person to do. Hiring more writers to work on a story will only guarantee this process to be longer; even though more writers working in collaboration will be able to usually make a story have a better but not necessarily longer. Sure there may not be an easy way to make a good long story, but at least there are simple methods for making good short stories, such as peer review by a number of people simultaneously.

This has led me to advise ArenaNet to focus more on the quality of the story rather than the length itself.

The Titles:

I’ve done extensive analysis on titles purposed & ones that have been implemented. So far, the conclusions to all of them have been following the same basic formula: Someone used the account (not necessarily the person using the account at the time he/she is encountered online) to spend X [Insert number here] amount of time to Y [Ex.: having an avatar consume alcohol] task. I believe it was Gaile Gray who rejected the idea of an Experience Title on the grounds that all the EBay Bot Farmers would have the highest ranks. The titles themselves don’t mean much or anything, as far as skill is concerned; even though they can be fun to look at. In fact if I find someone with a Drunkard title looking for a group, odds are I’m going to pick anyone else that hasn’t wasted their time and money when they could have been out anywhere else learning anything else that concerns combat.

[Thom]

I like Factions PvE much more than Prophecies. You could level a character in prophecies rather quickly (10-15 hours), but it required someone leveling you. You needed to go to remote locations for skills you needed, so in order to unlock for PvP it was a considerable expedition. Don't even try unlocking for a second profession since the only reasonable way to do it is experience farm underworld or something. Much of the map was unexcessable except on missions. The story line was linear kind of like the mission maps: winding around along a fairly restricted path.

The quickest way to level in factions is to follow the story and pick up a few quests along the way. Once you are off the start island, there are pve areas which are significantly challenging. There are enough interesting and remote locations despite the small map. There are enough quests that it is overwhelming and you actually have something to return and do in most areas; I find some of the quests suprisingly interesting. The story isn't long and rambling and some of the master levels are actually difficult to achieve, giving me some reason to repeat mission. The missions actually have different feels to them. Missions are nicely rewarded by NPC access like the profession changer and the +/- weapons crafters. Elite missions are actually extremely challenging and are about the challenge not uber rewards.

The environments are creative. Playing on the roof tops and sewers was surreal and actually kind of interesting. The Jade Sea and Echovald are both amazing environments which are far less cliche than some of the Tyrian enviroments. The lore seemed a bit deeper, although I haven't read all of it. Despite the mediocre story, Factions felt more immersive than Prophecies. Armor selections actually reflect to a small degree how you choose to play the game, so armors now tell a bit of a story which is nice. Greater variety of armor and professions adds to the flavor of your towns.

Fort Aspenwood is awesome. It isn't PvP, it isn't PvE, but it is extraordinary casual play. Kurzick/Luxon faction is much more PvE friendly than Balths. Challenge and Elite missions are entertaining live up to their name.

All PvPers want is balanced skills and mods with a few new maps. 4 new maps is enough to keep it interesting without being overwhelming. Greens and collectors are nice easy ways to provide the balance pvpers want along with the unique uber items pve'er desire.

Final point: Not all parts of the game are designed for you. Some title, mod or skill that you think is totally silly (drunkard title) may simply be because you weren't the target audience. I know lots of people having fun getting the drunkard title and use it as a symbol of wealth.

The game isn't perfect, but factions was definitely a step in the right direction. I can imagine still having fun with factions a year from now.

[STINGER]

When GW was first anounced, the concept was a new "book" every 6-9 months. Now, if they can actually get to that 6-9 month speed then Factions is just about right and Prophecies is too slow.

Personally I think there is something in the middle that makes a good 6-9 month game.

Balance: ANet has NEVER nerfed anything! They have "balanced"! The MM was adjusted because it was too good, when you can take an MM and your primary tanking/damage and one Tanker and 1-2 AoE builds and farm thier "elite pvp area" like Sorrows like everyone does then they need to adjust. BTW.....the MM is still a very strong build in PvE just about anywhere........I run an N/E MM and only use Necro skills to keep them alive, Blood of Master and a little Verettas and I can even do well in some of the Challenge Missions with just henchmen! Got 500 faction in the collect amber on on the Kurzick side last night.......


The biggest voice in testing in PvP. ANets biggest advertiser is PvP, but the biggest population is PvE. It is tuff to balance both and they alos dont want to be like anyone else.

The Alliance things I thought were and awesome addition to the game for those "tweeners" and PvEers that liked to bash a few heads in without all the PvP stress.....yes it can be stressfull even for the top guys. The Challenge missions are cool, as a matter of fact its a variance of "The Gauntlet" that i proposed during testing a long time ago before the first release.

Now, I dont totally agree wiht Factions......I dont like buyig skills, I would rather earn the bulk of them and buy some.

The story is a bit short.......but just might be close to what is needed for a 6-9 month release pattern.

Frankly the cutscenes look unfinished.......many of them are just movie and no story....that hurts it for alot of people even though I dont care abotu them much I know many do and it sucks to know they arent better.



Dont worry, there are assbags on both sides of the game.....PvE and PvP alike have thier total tools.

BTW, I would like ot ask you guys to refrain from the "I know I am going to get bitched at" stuff. This site isnt about that, wouldnt allow it. Sure you might get a couple people with opposing opinions than yours but I dont think KT and its leaders would stand for PvE bashing nor PvP bashing......

You guys should notice I dont post much in PvE......mostly PvP, but hey I PvE but others do it more than me and I might as well let them be the helpers for that!

This game is great, its not for all, and if you cant find a way to play the total game......PvP and PvE at least to some extent it will always be limited for you. Dont worry about being the ROXOR PvPer, just do it and have fun at whatever level you can......

Thoms post frankly shocks me......he is one of those guys more into PvE hating.....its work....boring...etc.

For me Factions is best......Prophecies was too simply, repetative and boring where Factions is "improved" and I expect the next one to be the best of both worlds, or somethign totally different.

........its all good.......

[Grim Daddy]

ANet has NEVER nerfed anything! They have "balanced"!

Personally, even though I use the term “nerf;” I haven’t intended (on this forum at least) to imply that ArenaNet was crossing any lines by simply balancing the game. I will continue to try and be a little more creative with my wording, but it’s not always easy swim against the current (so the saying goes anyway).

I would like ot ask you guys to refrain from the "I know I am going to get bitched at" stuff.

I guess that is more than a bit of an over statement on my part. But I have been known to leave people in very bad moods because of something I said. It’d be more accurate to say that I usually strike a nerve or two on someone that I wouldn’t expect to strike a nerve on. Now whether or not the person replies is a different story.

Furthermore, I do forget from time to time that the KT aren’t like a good number of the people I encounter in-game, which is a good thing considering that the henchmen's reasoning can run circles around some of the people that I meet.

PvE and PvP alike have thier total tools.

Ever since this thread started into a heated debate over aspects of PvE & PvP, I’ve been racking my brain in a futile attempt to adopt an old term and use it to describe the darker part in which plague both sides of the game. Of course, you all can now see what happened as a result of not coming up with that term, which was the longwinded talk on what really annoyed me in the game.

Side Note:

I know that there has been a few comparisons between PvE & PvP and HL^2 & CS. However, one element that can’t be ignored in Guild Wars is the ability to use all the equipment and skills acquired in PvE and use them in PvP, which can’t be done exactly with HL^2 & CS. This lends itself well to those times when I hear someone say that a build is uber because I can almost always go out and see for myself just how uber it really is.