I know people for whom the sum total of the “game industry†is Angry Birds, Madden, and Call of Duty. These are not vile “dudebros†… they’re just people who can literally play like three games all year and feel like that was a good year. They’ve got a game to play with their friends, a game to play by themselves, and something to do in line at the Butt Store or whatever. As a point of comparison, I have been installing a game while typing this paragraph.
— Tycho Brahe
Author: Zubon
.
Промоакции для игроков не только в шутерах — воспользуйся промокодом Vavada от наших партнеров и получи бонусы, которые подарят азарт и атмосферу, сравнимую с игровыми победами.
.[GW2] Crowd Control
You are the crowd in this context, and Guild Wars 2 uses events to collect groups of players and channel them between theme park rides. In the early days, when everyone is the same level, this creates massive zergs that are fun although not necessarily optimal. This will really pay off in the coming years as a solution to the common problem of finding groups after the population center is at the level cap.
First, we collect the players. Continue reading [GW2] Crowd Control
[CoX] City of Heroes Closing
City of Heroes will go offline in a few months after 8.5 years, two expansions, and 23 issues (major updates). I played for about half that time, level-capping 11 characters, getting my money’s worth, and finding examples I still keep citing under the heading, “Congratulations on catching up to CoX in 2004” (or “…ATitD in 2002”).
Ethic’s 2005 post about the end of Asheron’s Call 2 remains one of the most popular pages on the site.
: Zubon
[GW2] Just Around the Riverbend
Many people have observed how Guild Wars 2 content flows naturally across the map. In WoW or LotRO, you know you are done with your current quest hub when your quest list fills up with “go talk to Alice, Bob, Cogsworth, and D’rkesh in the next hub.” In GW2, theme park ride A exits by the entrance to ride B, and because you do not need to go back to town to turn in your quests, you just keep rolling. “Protect the caravan” events are an obvious, justified way to move people between towns, and frequently a defense event will transition into an assault event that has a similar effect. (More on that tomorrow.) Scouts also point out the rides in advance, in case the flow fails.
My point today is simpler: the mini-map design is excellent. The right side of your screen naturally pushes you to keep rolling through new content. I have often spotted and followed a trail of resource nodes into a new area. More importantly, the map includes things that are off-map. A waypoint you have yet to find will appear at the edge of the map, guiding you toward that new content. It hovers enticingly, retreating as you approach until it is legitimately on the map. I never would have thought that I would want a map that shows things not on the map, but it works beautifully. Look, a dully colored thing! Go light up the dully colored thing!
Just above it, you have a list of hearts and events. Those work beyond the mini-map, too, particularly the events that alert you to nearby opportunities. Look, an orange thing! Go see the shiny orange thing!
: Zubon
The grinning bobcat refused to disclose why he grinned.
[GW2] Scaling
SynCaine is right: Guild Wars 2 does not scale perfectly when you visit lower-level zones. As you might expect, a level 30-something scaled down to level 4 is still more powerful than a level 4, and then the content was balanced around level 2-3. I confirmed this when I took a low-30s elementalist into Queensdale and one-shotted elementals with Arcane Blast. Fast-leveling guildmates also report feeling much more powerful in WvW as a 50 scaled up to 80 than as a 10 (also scaled up to 80); this reminds me of WAR scenarios, where you knew you were going to lose when half your team queued up a the minimum level. Scaling does not overcome the fact that higher level characters have more and better gear, traits, and abilities.
Some of that may be a factor of the small numbers involved. This is not hard math: 2 is half of 4 but only 10% of 20, so a two-level difference means a lot more at level 4 than 20. Visiting areas in the teens and 20s, the difference seems less severe, although I have not tested it vigorously. I also expect there to be some scaling tweaks in place by the time we have enough level-capped characters to test scaling over its full range.
As usual, I would like to point out that City of Heroes solved this problem years ago. Your entire group is set to the same level. You can set the content to whatever level and group size you like. Here you would scale the characters rather than the content, but the principle is the same. City of Heroes faces the same problem, that a level 50’s enhancements make him/her far more effective when scaled down to 20 than a level 20 character is, but you can always choose to adjust your challenge level if you want a more authentic level 20 experience.
: Zubon
[GW2] How to Level in GW2 Without Really Trying
I have earned that last bit of xp and leveled by:
- completing an event
- completing a heart
- rezzing people
- gathering crafting materials (3 levels in a row)
- crafting a bag
- finding a new area
- WvWing
- viewing a scenic vista
- completing an achievement
But as of yet, not just from the xp of killing a monster.
: Zubon
This week’s theme brought to you by Anjin, the letters G and W, and the number 2.
[GW2] Full of Love
Hearts are Guild Wars 2’s upgrade to quest hubs. While “I need help…” usually means “…killing [these things],” I have also filled hearts by:
- returning wayward chickens
- engaging in synchronized military practice
- activating golems
- turning into a snow leopard
- rezzing fishercharr
- rezzing soldiers
- brawling with drunk soldiers and then rezzing them
- rescuing wolf cubs
[GW2] All There in the Manual
Many people have wondered how those combo attacks work in GW2, because something is apparently doing something in all those explosions during the event. Conveniently, the GW2 manual was posted and has a section on combo attacks. It says almost nothing and recommends experimenting. (If you are reading this in 2016, and that link gets a third sentence, hello people of the future!)
The wiki, as expected, actually explains things, and does so in a beautifully simple table with links to what skills create those combos. (If you are reading this in late 2012, and the wiki is reliably available after the crushing launch week traffic, hello people of the future!)
This explains all those “Area Healing” pop-ups during that “fight the champion giant” event.
: Zubon
[GW2] Quality of Life Improvements Since Beta
- Kills needed to unlock weapon skills have been decreased. Underwater feels particularly quick.
- You can access the bank from crafting stations.
- More merchants with harvesting tools, including one more or less the moment you exit the tutorial.
- Tutorial bosses are not AE 1-shotting everyone.
- Guild polyamory is in.
- Every day they’re shufflin’
- The game is pretty much guaranteed not to be vaporware at this point.
- Those skills that have 3+ versions? Mouse-over to see the whole chain, not just the current version. (Thanks Sente!)
I am sure there are more, but I was too busy playing to note them all. Feel free to contribute your own. It flows quite nicely. Not new, but there is a special joy from every person you tell about the “Deposit All Collectibles” button.
: Zubon
[GW2] Crafting Tools
To harvest crafting materials, Guild Wars 2 uses a system functionally identical to LotRO, but it feels different. In both cases, you need to have a crafting item equipped to harvest, say a mining pick. In both cases, there are three; in GW2, you can wield all 3 at once to start, while you must manually switch in LotRO until you can build a multi-tool later in the game (advantage GW2 for less switching between tools). In both cases, they have different tiers of tools for the different tiers of crafting, although in LotRO the tiers matter for crafting rather than harvesting (advantage LotRO for less switching between tools).
The difference is that you buy explicit charges in GW2, while you have an item that needs repair in LotRO. Both are goldsinks, and in both cases you need to spend X gold every Y harvests to maintain your tools. GW2 gets the advantage for making it explicit how many charges you have left, rather than wondering how many more swings 4 durability will get you in LotRO. Maybe this just comes from having played LotRO for years, but it feels wrong to have “charges of pickaxe” rather than owning a pickaxe. From GW1, I accept that salvaging kits wear out, but it feels wrong when my sickle disappears. I will probably get used to it.
I have yet to run the numbers on whether you lose something in selling partially used pickaxes. In LotRO, you would naturally repair your crafting tools while in town, but you cannot just throw in another 200 charges of pickaxe in GW2.
Request to developers: can we have a visible indicator that a trade tool is low and/or out? Maybe it exists but is too subtle for me to notice. It stinks to move between nodes and discover that your sickle silently shattered on that last carrot.
: Zubon