Amusing GW2 review - light profanity
By
afocks,
Posted on: 2012-09-07 13:18 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Quote:
That Arenanet is in the same subsidiary boat that we are/were in. NCSoft caould have just as easily pulled the same stunt with them as they did with us. They didn't choose to tank Paragon Studios, the {pancakes} in charge of NCSoft Corporate did.|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
Your point? I didn't have a problem with NCSoft before this. Now I do.
|
It's perfectly reasonable to choose not to do business with NCSoft anymore, but please let's try to focus any negative feelings on the ones actually responsible for making the decision.
Arenanet's already getting punished financially for something they didn't do because of NCSofts decision.
What he doesnt mention in the video is the repetitiveness of these
objectives - and to be frank they arent a whole lot different than regular quests in other MMOs. Kill mobs, collect objects, perform actions like dumping water, etc., etc., the same old same old. Only difference is that you dont have a quest listing.
The OTHER thing that is really bugging me is the difficulty of just crossing a zone. In most MMOs, there's kind of a tacit understanding that roads comprise a safe route - i.e. minimal aggro. There is non-stop aggro when crossing their zones - cant really be avoided. The game also tends to zerg you when engaged with a mob. A fight with a mob usually turns into a fight with every mob in a 1 mile radius. It becomes a real chore just to get from point A to point B.
They made a big todo about the fact that what you've done becomes permanent in the game-world. ( i.e., you save a town, it stays saved ). I've yet to see anything like that.
The vast majority of their "events" are either
1. KIll mobs as they atack an area
2. Follow an npc patrol and kill everything in your path.
Big woop.
There is nothing that revolutionary from what I've seen.
As far as grouping - people dont group. If you happen to be in the same area, yes you're working on the same objective. But there's zero socialization. So, what the reviewer counts as a positive, I consider a negative.
131430 Starfare: First Contact
178774 Tales of Croatoa: A Rose By Any Other Name ( 2009 MA Best In-Canon Arc ) ( 2009 Player Awards - Best Serious Arc )
Quote:
I found a site that took this observation to its logical conclusion.|
Originally Posted by Hercules
What he doesnt mention in the video is the repetitiveness of these objectives - and to be frank they arent a whole lot different than regular quests in other MMOs. Kill mobs, collect objects, perform actions like dumping water, etc., etc., the same old same old. Only difference is that you dont have a quest listing.
|
They got a bunch of games there which they sort into combinations of "gameplay bricks" based on what comprises their mechanics.
Quote:
Yeah, I can see that by the continuous use of their forum.
|
Originally Posted by Aura_Familia
Nothing.
Pretty much done with NCSoft. Had enough experience with them over the years to know that they won't get better. |
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Quote:
What has customer service said on your ticket so far?
|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
What free three months? I'm paid up through May 2013 and NCSoft has given me no indication whether they intend to issue refunds.
|
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Quote:
I'm sure they will fine-tune it. Blizzard does the exact same thing from what I can tell. It's actually kind of smart - there has to be a way of encouraging the loss of in-game money.
|
Originally Posted by Johnny_Butane
Currently, pretty much every large team event is like Battle Maiden on the Apex as played against a bunch of SO'ed Scrappers, except she's got a damage aura and the sword bomb patches have an even smaller margin for error. All the content post 40 tuned very brutally, pretty much because they want people to faceplant because repairing your gear that breaks when you do is part of the backbone of the game's gold economy.
. |
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Quote:
I'm not opening a ticket. They need to tell me what they intend to do. This is THEIR action. |
Originally Posted by JayboH
What has customer service said on your ticket so far?
|
Now if you plan to come back with some nonsense about me not wanting to fix the problem, please don't bother. You're right. I don't want to fix NCSoft's problem. I expect them to.
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
Quote:
Exactly, hence why I shall not give NCSoft's Arenanet division any more of my money.
|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
That Arenanet is in the same subsidiary boat that we are/were in. NCSoft caould have just as easily pulled the same stunt with them as they did with us. They didn't choose to tank Paragon Studios, the {pancakes} in charge of NCSoft Corporate did.
It's perfectly reasonable to choose not to do business with NCSoft anymore, but please let's try to focus any negative feelings on the ones actually responsible for making the decision. Arenanet's already getting punished financially for something they didn't do because of NCSofts decision. |
The City of Heroes Community is a special one and I will always look fondly on my times arguing, discussing and playing with you all. Thanks and thanks to the developers for a special experience.
Quote:
Last I check, the 250+ employee studio is still hiring even more people at the same time 80 employees at Paragon Studio got kicked in their buttocks and out the doors.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Arenanet's already getting punished financially for something they didn't do because of NCSofts decision.
|
I don't see ArenaNet being punished financially in any of this.
Are you buying GW2? If not then they are being punished by everyone that has chosen to stop spending money on NCSoft products and services.
Are you now going to argue that the amount of money they are losing to those people is insignificant? If so that also means that any boycott of NCSoft we perform is just as insignificant because it's our money they are losing.
So what's it going to be. Does your boycott mean anything or are you admitting that you are insignifacant?
Quote:
I'm not "boycotting" nor even promoting that solution simply because I know that just in the same way they consider the CoH profits were insignificant, that "small" number of players also cant bring enough profits to matter. From NCSoft's point of view, if no CoH player gets GW2, they are likely to not care.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Are you buying GW2? If not then they are being punished by everyone that has chosen to stop spending money on NCSoft products and services.
Are you now going to argue that the amount of money they are losing to those people is insignificant? If so that also means that any boycott of NCSoft we perform is just as insignificant because it's our money they are losing. So what's it going to be. Does your boycott mean anything or are you admitting that you are insignifacant? |
This is not the first game they shut down, they are very likely already aware of what the true percentage of lost players is, and what the percentage of players that just cry a week and then move on to another NCSoft title is.
Also: from what I have read so far, GW2 didnt sell as well as expected without any boycott or anything. GW2 didnt pay for their lower than expected sales. We did.
... Didn't sell as well as expected?
It sold so well that they ran out of server space and had to stop selling.
Quote:
I got to say: no clue where I read that. I just read they expected it to do better. Not sure if that means they expected more units to move, or that management expected the game to be able to handle the ability to sell more units.|
Originally Posted by Mad Grim
... Didn't sell as well as expected?
It sold so well that they ran out of server space and had to stop selling. |
Edit: actually the later may be more reason to find the need to relocate budget to that project, taking it away from what they consider a title they would have to let go off anyways.
Quote:
Yeah, NCSoft's problem was Aion, AFAIK. Not GW2. If anything, GW2 appears to have outsold expectations. Either that, or NC/ArenaNet made an informed decision not to over-commit server resources to the GW2 launch. In other words, they'll accept whatever downsides come from an over-crowded launch in order to avoid the longer-term population/PR problems that too many servers represent. (Most recently and notably, SWTOR launched with a bajillion servers and they're still paying for it, IMO.)|
Originally Posted by Mad Grim
... Didn't sell as well as expected?
It sold so well that they ran out of server space and had to stop selling. |
Now that you mention it, it's kind of extraordinary that NCSoft's other properties could do so badly that even the unreserved and spectacular success of GW2's launch couldn't save CoH.
(EDIT: SWTOR and GW2 probably aren't directly comparable, given that GW2 didn't launch as a subscription-based service. Perhaps I'm just projecting some of my disappointment with SWTOR onto the matter at hand.
In any case, as someone who has no experience with GW2, I've found this thread quite interesting. Thanks to all involved.)
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
 |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by JayboH
Also, does anyone else notice how the self-righteous in this thread are slamming the hell out of a game that has been out less than two weeks?
|
IMO nothing written here wouldn't be appropriate for an Amazon review. There's also nothing written here that is particularly unfair to this game versus what people have said about CO, WoW, Rift, DCUO, or for that matter, CoH. Every person who has posted in this thread has had at least some criticisms for CoH as well, some more vocal about it than others.
If you want to see "slamming," let's talk about Diablo 3.
Quote:
I don't think they are aware they have a problem.
|
Originally Posted by EvilGeko
I'm not opening a ticket. They need to tell me what they intend to do. This is THEIR action.
Now if you plan to come back with some nonsense about me not wanting to fix the problem, please don't bother. You're right. I don't want to fix NCSoft's problem. I expect them to. |
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Quote:
Actually if CoH showed us anything it's that any boycott (or any other action that will reduce profits to negative or a "not enough" amount) will result in them dropping the developer.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Are you buying GW2? If not then they are being punished by everyone that has chosen to stop spending money on NCSoft products and services.
Are you now going to argue that the amount of money they are losing to those people is insignificant? If so that also means that any boycott of NCSoft we perform is just as insignificant because it's our money they are losing. So what's it going to be. Does your boycott mean anything or are you admitting that you are insignifacant? |
Meaning they'll just fire more people. Meaning you'd just be helping ArenaNet be put out of job, the same way Paragon was, and not hurt NCSoft at all.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by PRAF68_EU
Dispari has more than enough credability, and certainly doesn't need to borrow any from you.
|
Quote:
Reallocating budget may indeed be a factor, but don't make the mistake some have by assuming they shut us down because GW2 needs our servers. |
Originally Posted by Starsman
Edit: actually the later may be more reason to find the need to relocate budget to that project, taking it away from what they consider a title they would have to let go off anyways.
|
They aren't going to wait and sacrifice 3 months of sales while waiting to get our servers.
Quote:
Now THAT was deserved. Past Diablo devs have even commented how disappointing the current dev team's product turned out to be. It's still addictive, and it seems they are trying to fix things finally, but it will never be what it could have been. At least we get to see first hand the proof needed to call their decisions 'stupid.'|
Originally Posted by Oedipus_Tex
If you want to see "slamming," let's talk about Diablo 3.
|
...I mean come on, look at what 1.0.4 did and how magically everything is starting to get better. The Witch Doctor's pets for example... wow did they mess that up for launch!
My new Youtube Channel with CoH info
You might know me as FlintEastwood now on Freedom
Well, to me, it doesn't matter what this fellow says about this GW2 game, the interface is just horrible.
Having only played CoH, I see these other UIs, and I simply loathe them.
And forced teaming? yuck.
"Most people that have no idea what they are doing have no idea that they don't know what they are doing." - John Cleese
@Ukase
I'm still doing my research on GW2, but I'll toss this in:
GW2, and any other game coming out now, gets no points for having things that it took CoH years to get. I would be shocked if it didn't. Wasn't that one of the things that people complained about (and still do) with Champions Online - that Cryptic had apparently forgotten all of the lessons that they'd learned from making their first game?
The state of the art moves on and a new baseline is established. The presence of certain features is not a "plus", it is expected. You'll have to do more than that to impress me.
My characters at Virtueverse
Faces of the City
Quote:
I have to ask, what forced teaming? So far I've been soloing everything I've chosen to do. I admit I'm not a power gamer so I'm only in my 30's, so is this something that happens at the endgame?
|
Originally Posted by Ukaserex
Well, to me, it doesn't matter what this fellow says about this GW2 game, the interface is just horrible.
Having only played CoH, I see these other UIs, and I simply loathe them. And forced teaming? yuck. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Megajoule
I'm still doing my research on GW2, but I'll toss this in:
GW2, and any other game coming out now, gets no points for having things that it took CoH years to get. I would be shocked if it didn't. Wasn't that one of the things that people complained about (and still do) with Champions Online - that Cryptic had apparently forgotten all of the lessons that they'd learned from making their first game? The state of the art moves on and a new baseline is established. The presence of certain features is not a "plus", it is expected. You'll have to do more than that to impress me. |
If it's an expected standard why are games still being published without them? See SWTOR for the most recent example of everything not to do.
It seems somewhere in the lines of communication between MMO players and devs someone is suffering a severe cranial rectal inversion.
Quote:
http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09...uropean-sales/ |
Originally Posted by Starsman
Also: from what I have read so far, GW2 didnt sell as well as expected without any boycott or anything. GW2 didnt pay for their lower than expected sales. We did.
|
Umm.
Right now as I type this I'm in the high level 80 zone.
There is (to put everything into CoH terms) a GM walking back and forth maybe 10 yards from a major base filled with players who aren't fighting it. What are they doing instead? Half of them are sitting AFK at the other end of the base by the gate with their equivalent of Foot Stomp on auto because this happens to be a base that gets invaded at short intervals and the NPCs are adequate at fighting them off on their own. All a player has to do is merely tag an enemy once and get full credit for defeating it; and that is enough to earn them a gold badge for contributing to the invasion event and earn a fair amount of reward merits without even being present. The other half of players are taking a break from that. They've moved over to the trading house NPC and are currently gaming the market and driving prices up on crafting goods with the items and drops they've gotten from being AFK.
And this is the norm because nobody wants to drag their butt out to the far end of the zone to do an event that may not even attract enough people to complete. While the events do scale to the number of people, like a CoH Task Force many start at a point far beyond what typical solo player could handle and only go up from there.
.