Guild Wars 2 First Impression

[catalyst8]

What concerns me most is the continued use of the in-game shop. ArenaNet have admitted that items bought in-game will, at least to some extent, affect the strength of characters' abilities, & in a game which sells itself as featuring heavily involved PvP that sounds ominously like 'Pay to win'.

Dude, they said no such thing. In fact, they've said quite the opposite, and anyone looking at the items in the item shop would very quickly realize how preposterous the notion of "pay to win" is. At best you can accelerate the process of getting a chance at a random miniscule boost, which only affects you for a short period of time (and only in PvE, at that). 5% more damage here I come! Whee! Look at me, I'm paying to WIN.

I guess you could buy the cosmetic boxing gloves. Because then you could win. At boxing RP.

As well as selling things like a +50% PvP Glory Boost, there are loot boosters to give players who buy them better loot than those who don't, & even a PvP entry ticket you have to buy in order to participate in PvP tournaments. That's not just pay to win it's pay to play. Preposterous? Far from it.

I appreciate that you want to defend the game you just bought, but suggest you have another look at the shop, they had to take it down earlier but with any luck it'll be working soon.

 

[Nautical Honors Society]

It looks like we have a classic case of "Someone didn't like a very hyped and popular game, so we are going to scold him for his opinions" in this thread.

I'm honestly not surprised, but that being said, I'd get it if I was able to afford it.

 

[General Twinkletoes]

I would like to hear people's impressions of the mesmer. If anyone's played as one, can you tell me what it's like?

Fairly underpowered, from what I've played. I didn't get too far, but this seems like the general consensus is that it really isn't as good as the other classes, for PvE or PvP. Which is a shame, because it's such a cool class. I wanted to play one but just had no fun when I actually tried.

 

[Korten12]

What concerns me most is the continued use of the in-game shop. ArenaNet have admitted that items bought in-game will, at least to some extent, affect the strength of characters' abilities, & in a game which sells itself as featuring heavily involved PvP that sounds ominously like 'Pay to win'.

Dude, they said no such thing. In fact, they've said quite the opposite, and anyone looking at the items in the item shop would very quickly realize how preposterous the notion of "pay to win" is. At best you can accelerate the process of getting a chance at a random miniscule boost, which only affects you for a short period of time (and only in PvE, at that). 5% more damage here I come! Whee! Look at me, I'm paying to WIN.

I guess you could buy the cosmetic boxing gloves. Because then you could win. At boxing RP.

As well as selling things like a +50% PvP Glory Boost, there are loot boosters to give players who buy them better loot than those who don't, & even a PvP entry ticket you have to buy in order to participate in PvP tournaments. That's not just pay to win it's pay to play. Preposterous? Far from it.

I appreciate that you want to defend the game you just bought, but suggest you have another look at the shop, they had to take it down earlier but with any luck it'll be working soon.

Getting more glory, and easier loot doesn't make them better. Hell, all of the best gear I got is from enemies, karma vendors and making them myself and I am level 52 and all of the best gear for PvE (since all the gear in SPvP is cosmetic) cant be obtained from killing enemies and looting them.

So no, none of those are pay to win. Pay to win would mean that I pay and I get an advantage over other players. Things like +50% PvP Glory Boost and loot boosters aren't giving me an advantage, just speeding up the processes. If one player used the boosts and the other one did, in the end they will be the exact same, just one person got there faster.

You do realize standard PvP all the gear is cosmetic, right?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As well as selling things like a +50% PvP Glory Boost, there are loot boosters to give players who buy them better loot than those who don't, & even a PvP entry ticket you have to buy in order to participate in PvP tournaments. That's not just pay to win it's pay to play. Preposterous? Far from it.

I appreciate that you want to defend the game you just bought, but suggest you have another look at the shop, they had to take it down earlier but with any luck it'll be working soon.

ROFL...uh...yeah, no. Again. Glory does nothing, it's entirely cosmetic. "Better loot" is a fallacy, all loot immediately plateaus at 80, all the "magic find" does is let you find more of the same loot you're already finding.

The only thing boosters do is let you get to 80 a little faster, if getting to 80 fast is your thing, or accumulate a currency faster to buy cosmetic upgrades with. Since everyone is bolstered to level 80 immediately in PvP anyway, getting to level 80 fast does absolutely nothing for you in scenario or tournament PvP. Being 80 in PvE means absolutely nothing, there's no gear grind or raid scene to partake in.

I don't need to "defend the game" from pay to win accusations, because they're absolute rubbish to begin with. This was debunked MONTHS ago when details of the shop first started appearing. You're right though, there IS a huge confirmation bias raging away in this debate. It's the one held by the guy who looked at a game running on his friend's machine for a few minutes, jumped to a bunch of wrong headed conclusions, and is now ardently defending them against someone who has been playing the game since early beta. Just accept that you were mistaken and move on, man. This is a ridiculous debate.

 

[Easton Dark]

I would like to hear people's impressions of the mesmer. If anyone's played as one, can you tell me what it's like?

Fairly underpowered, from what I've played. I didn't get too far, but this seems like the general consensus is that it really isn't as good as the other classes, for PvE or PvP. Which is a shame, because it's such a cool class. I wanted to play one but just had no fun when I actually tried.

No one who has responded to me about the mesmer seemed to like it or value it at all.

This depresses me to no end, as it looked to be the coolest class on the roster, right up there with necromancer and engineer.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

No one who has responded to me about the mesmer seemed to like it or value it at all.

This depresses me to no end, as it looked to be the coolest class on the roster, right up there with necromancer and engineer.

It's a fine class, it's just fussy and difficult to play, so you have to work harder to get the same results you might get from an easier more intuitive class.