User:NuclearVII/Essays/Gw2 Suggestions/Critical Suggestions

''DISCLAIMER: This page is addressed to Izzy and ANET. You may comment on it, but The chances for me to respond is very low.

Here I go...

Do not allow skills to stack

 * The most prevalent damage dealer in this game is the fearless warrior. No matter what broken skill or professions are introduced, the warrior has never left his post. This is because warriors are awesome at what they do. In fact, some of their aspects are downright OP: The Deep wound beast, a moster that eats 100 health without question. The Bull's, which is almost a guaranteed 3 sec KD for only 5 energy. The melee weapons, with their free and daunting DPS ability. Why is the warrior not labeled "broken"?
 * Because they don't stack. The total efficiency effect of two warriors is less than one warrior x 2. This is because multiple DW's don't stack. Multiple KD's don't stack. When the real aces don't stack, there is no reason to take more than 2, may be 3 warriors. That makes them balanced. If a certain skill, build, profession gets more powerful as its numbers increase, then that skill/build/profession is poorly balanced will be always either broken or weak. Therefore, make more things like Shatterstone, and less like Searing Flames. More Lightning Surges, and less Lightning orbs. More Backbreakers, and less Enraged Smashes.

Do not add too much content

 * This just makes your life difficult. Don't add 1000+ skills, especially if you don't think to keep most them alive. Quantity is a quality of it's own, but only in real life. In a game, short lists of viable abilities are more appreciated than 1000+ strong lists with only a few useable ones. Don't listen to anyone who argues otherwise.
 * A large selection of available skills make life very difficult for new players. The desire to experiment becomes great enough to violates the sacred truth - winning is the key in building.

Do not add too many spot heals

 * Protting is awesome. More prots make for better games. Reactive defence has made GW's battle system unique and powerful. While it is unlikely for you to do so, I'm a little alarmed about the advent of the Rt. Please go for more prots.

Do not add key skills

 * It's usually a bad sign when you need one particular skill that is the key to victory. One example would be LoD. Back in it's heyday, LoD was the do or die skill of the entire meta. It was balanced in it's own way, but it was also made for quite stale games. The syndrome of eating the same thing too many times, slowly you start to hate it. That's why variety is called the spice of life.

Do not release the game without a decent beta phase

 * Proph was awesome. It was balanced, and it had a beta. Factions less so, NF less so, EOTN even less so. You really don't want your audience to be turned off by bugs and bad balance. This mistake is made by age of conan, a game, while with a nice team and a good concept, is doomed from the start.

Do not make the mistake of balancing around lore

 * Well, this is a no brainer. There is no 'what a class was meant to do' or 'violating the color pie' in a game with nearly infinite variety, and secondary professions. Don't make the mistake of giving a particular role to a certain character and making it extrapowerful for that role. Sooner or later we find a way to break the boundaries and make gimmicky builds.
 * This does not mean that there shouldn't be any specialization. That's what makes this a team game. That's what made GW fun. But keep the fact that some fluidity is necessary when balancing. For example, it might make sense to add exhaustion to a necro skill to achieve perfect balance. Don't shy away from it.

Do not make the learning curve too high

 * Eve suffers from this. That's why their customer base is tiny. An easy way to do this is by giving links to forums and other useful fan made sites in game - a good majority of GW players do not acknowledge this site. By promoting input from players and distributing it amongst those less knowledgable makes for a more educated playerbase and a more fun community.
 * Making certain advanced techniques is fine - things like Quarterknocking, or interrupting quartercasts mark the difference between smart and skilled players and is necessary for a game with a competitive side. But things like Kiting and frenzying - all high core skills - are never taught at the main tutorial area. This is a bad thing. A novice cannot survive to learn the important things from good players if the basics are guarded like holy script. Right now, a good portion of the playerbase doesn't know how to move to avoid damage: This is reasonable, since most people transfer from either WoW or other games where it might not be needed. But just like taking cover in many shooters, or responding to grenades with another grenade, this must be taught to avoid a bad playerbase - that's what makes a game fun, in the end.

Do not make the learning curve too low

 * Very few games made this mistake, and I don't think you will too. Nevertheless, if the game gets to a point that a 4 month old player can beat a 3 year old veteran, something is wrong.
 * Right now, GW violates this. A new player can easily look up a build online, press 1234 and win. It is a good thing to share build - but when builds become too easy play, you eliminate the distinction of having better skills = something that should not happen.

If the game is to be balanced around PvP, make the transition from PvE to PvP as smooth as possible

 * Look, we all know that GW is a PvP game. We also know that many people dabbling in PvP have first played through the campaign and got most of their abilities by fighting monsters. This is quite natural, since many people want to polish on the game mechanics and get familiar with their characters before they take on the big leagues without embarrasment. Starcraft did this, again very well, as skirmishes and the campaign games were both challanging and developed core skills necessary to play the game on a semi-competitive level. It was no substitute for the real deal, but it gave players an oppurtunity to brush up before getting hammered.
 * Right now, GW violates this rule. It wasn't always this way, as proph PvP was somehow difficult and preparing enough to get someone started on the right track. But now, with the addition of PvP/PvE only skills, the game has become strictly defined and seperated with a border in between the two diffferent forms. This doesn't make for enither a balanced or a fun game - only a segregated one.
 * CoD4 is a violator of this. Playing the campaign and the multiplayer were entirely different things - and this is one fo the reasons why CoD has a horrendous playerbase. In other words, try to make the transition from PvE to PvP as easy and smooth as possible - because it does happen, and to ignore it is to force both yourselves and the rest of the players to deal with inexperience and pvp culture shock.

Make the PvP tutorial as mandatory and as detailed as possible

 * We players usually brag about ignoring tutorials. That's one way of asserting both independance and superiority. Yet, a good tutorial adds a gigantic load to anyone unskilled with the game. The popups were a joke, and everyone ignored it. But they are tried and true teaching method, and when decently implemented, a good teaching segment makes for a much better playerbase and, ergo, a better playing enviornment.

Obviously, this page is under construction...