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Guild Wars: Boring? June 23, 2005 |
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Summary: Guild Wars the Great, Guild Wars the MMO Killer, Guild Wars the RPG PvP King. It's gotten great reviews all around the internet, but we haven't reviewed it at all? Why is that? Read on.
 Introduction | Page:: ( 1 / 6 ) |
However, with that out of the way, I must say that I absolutely, 100%, do not get the appeal of it. Sure, it’s a free “MMO”. The technology behind it is excellent – servers are never down, content streams automatically, and performance is completely beyond reproach. The financial concept is bold and commendable – you pay for the game and play on ArenaNet’s servers for free, while they work on expansions that you will hopefully buy. In purely technical terms, the gameplay is an interesting combination of action, RPG and multiplayer shooter elements.
For all that, I find it boring.
Before I continue, perhaps I should explain that I’d experienced something similar with World of WarCraft – I played it to quite unhealthy levels during the beta and by the time the final product was out, I was quite keen on avoiding another bout of addiction that would kill my productivity and social life. Yet, when I finally picked up World of WarCraft, I found myself instantly bored. I’d done everything – or at least enough that I didn’t feel like going through it again. The mystery, the challenge, the desire to improve my character were just plain gone – it wasn’t the monthly fee or technical issues.
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So, knowing this, I’d abstained from the Guild Wars beta. I figured I’d really like the game, so why waste my passion on an unfinished version of it? Everything I heard about it made it seem more exciting. Only 20 levels, an intricate introduction mode, the ability to dual-class without any penalties, hundreds of skills, the strategy behind selecting those skills, and actual player skill would be involved in combat. It sounded like the kind of thing developers wish they could do but never did, for fear of creating something so different it would scare players away (see: Allegiance). And yet it worked, and the masses flocked to the game – and I along with them.
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Rushing to pick the game up, complete with the little EB special weapon, I logged in, created a few characters, wandered around, read about the introduction and how the real gameplay doesn’t begin until after the searing (typically level 3-6). After that, I could group with 4 or more people on missions and quests as I leveled my way to 20, which was only the first half of the game – then I could continue gathering skills, defend my guild hall or attack others’. Those times when my guild wasn’t on, I could adventure with AI compatriots.
By the end of my first night, I was bored to tears.
| What went wrong? | Page:: ( 2 / 6 ) |
At first, I thought that perhaps it was the rather bland storyline and uninspired voice acting that bugged me. That contributed, as did the utter lack of lip motion on characters (what is this, Daikatana?), but obviously such relatively minor issues are only irritants that build on the core dislikes. They’re not the game-breakers I eventually recognized.
The first major annoyance is the static, repetitive nature of the world. Though divided into instanced zones, there’s a very clear feeling of running across areas and encountering the same group of enemies over and over. Each zone has maybe 3-4 kinds of monsters which are further divided into very bland sub-varieties, like “the big one” and “the magic casting one”. The groups are almost always the same size and composition, so you know there’s never a challenge in killing them. No new strategies, no new tactics are necessary. There may be an occasional special encounter with a mini-boss or boss-style character, or running into the middle of monsters fighting each other, but that’s about it. Dying usually takes carelessness, lag, or AI.
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Missions will have a bit more variety, but if you do it once, that’s it, nothing new is going to happen when you go back. Quests give players something to do when they’re running and running and running across the various zones, but they’re only the most basic types available, not bothering to conceal their “delivery boy/assassin” nature in the least.
As for the hundreds of skills… well … predictably enough, many of them are quite similar. That’s not to say that ArenaNet copied and pasted skills across the classes, but templates of the abilities are clearly visible. There’s a certain rule that’s being followed that is very good for the long-term viability of the game’s competitive community, but deathly boring to those expecting another Diablo: skill balance. Also, while games like Diablo with a limited scope can have some abilities that go beyond the MMO norm of heal/regen/revive/shield/damage/DoT/mez/buff, Guild Wars is more or less limited to that standard list, since it’s a multiplayer game first and foremost.
See, in the Diablos, it was OK for some skills to be absolutely balls-out overpowered, and some to end up being next-to-useless. Since most people only played each game for a bit, it didn’t matter if Corpse Explosion or Fire Wall were good, or an ability like Skeleton Mastery was totally useless. Yes, these imbalances could anger the players that focused on the wrong skills, but that also made it an incentive to get the right ones. Furthermore, Diablo and Diablo II could get patched, after the casual players left, to a point where balance was improved and the hardcore crazies could enjoy both games more.
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In Guild Wars, most skills are relatively equal. Depending on what you’re trying to make your character and what the party composition us, the skill that was the be-all, end-all for your last character is going to be useless now. This means that there’s less personal incentive to play and experiment and try to min/max, but more team incentive to adjust. I’m willing to bet that most players are motivated more by personal incentives. We want to have the Uber Character, not The Healer With Some Bow Skills or the Warrior Who Can Mez.
| More Bore | Page:: ( 3 / 6 ) |
In Guild Wars, there’s no such thing. There’s a crafting system, and apparently quite a vibrant crafting community, but when I hear those poor, desperate souls (no offense) getting so excited about Guild Wars crafting it’s all I can do not to steer them on to EverQuest 2 or World of WarCraft. Again – I’m sure there’s appeal, but I just don’t see the charm. The random loot drops are not all that interesting and the odds of finding a good weapon are slim – and even should you find it, it’s just not going to be that “+150% to hit” Strange Sword of Blood you bought from Wirt at only level 32!
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Guild Wars simply can’t afford to deck out characters in a variety of equipment. Balance – for competition and to keep casual fans competitive with the catasses – must be maintained. The whole point behind Guild Wars is that you can build a level 20 PvP character and compete with someone who ranked up the normal way. He’ll have a few more skills and maybe some better items, but ArenaNet is going to keep him balanced so that you’ll have a chance. Ultimately, it will be your class combination and skill selection that will decide the match, not the fact that he plays 20 hours a day. He’ll still probably win, but it’s not like setting a level 60 Rogue up against a level 10 Hunter, or a level 99 Barbarian against a level 15 Paladin.
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So there’s yet another incentive to click through the repetitive combinations of monsters that’s gone. Basically, all that’s left is the need to gain experience, some gold and the necessary items to upgrade armor every now and then. Sometimes a halfway decent weapon might drop, but Almighty Balance makes sure you can’t get too excited about it. Ultimately, of course, the player hopes to get to level 20 and gather all the skills through the story mode, but that’s assuming he likes PvP that much. Again: it’s just plain boring as far as I’m concerned.
| Skill and Conclusion | Page:: ( 4 / 6 ) |
To those that didn’t understand it, it seemed like nothing but a game for teenagers with hair-trigger reflexes and a knack for camping the rocket launcher and red armor. To those who understood a bit more about it, it seemed all you had to do was run the right routes to control armor and weapons, and have good aim. Those people, they believed that all you had to do was memorize routes, count off seconds in their heads and practice a lot and you could be as good as anyone else.
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But there’s a lot more to it. It’s about knowing your opponent. Thresh was far and away the best Quake player – ever. I wouldn’t bet for him in a match against Fatal1ty in one of the Unreals or even perhaps Quake 3 (though then again, I wouldn’t bet against him), but I’d lay down my life savings in Thresh vs anyone in Quake, assuming he practiced to get back in shape.
Why? Because he knew his opponents. I played several matches against one of Thresh’s clan mates, Kenn, who repeatedly abused me from directions I never saw, whose skill with rockets and the lightning gun was undeniable, but who ultimately killed me mostly because he knew where I’d be. It wasn’t just a matter of following the sounds – I’d played enough Quake to be deceptive with those. He’d adapt and compensate and beat me at it anyway – and that’s what Thresh did to him. That’s what Thresh did to everybody. When I asked Kenn to describe what it’s like going 1 on 1 against the grandmaster, he said, and I quote, “You never made a sound, he didn’t see you, but you turn the corner and there’s a rocket coming at your face.”
Of course, this is about Guild Wars, not Quake – but it gives you an idea of why I can respect what Guild Wars is trying to do with its competitions, but can’t enjoy it just the same. Yes, there’s a certain need to understand your opponent’s strategy, but it’s all buffered with skills, teams, and class selection – Quake is pure, unfettered. Being responsive to your team’s needs, casting the right spells at the right time and target, managing mana – I’m sure it’s fun for the right crowd, but it isn’t for me. Unlike World of WarCraft or EverQuest, there really isn’t a permanent payoff at the end; and unlike Quake, the competition isn’t satisfying.
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That ultimately sums up my feelings about Guild Wars in general. I absolutely respect what the development team did. They produced a game that’s balanced on all levels, offers variety, great performance on all technical merits, and throws in some revolutionary concepts to boot. Despite all that, it is terribly boring for me personally – not because it’s a bad game like Daikatana – but because it just isn’t my thing.
Flame on.
| Gallery 1 | Page:: ( 5 / 6 ) |
| Gallery 2 | Page:: ( 6 / 6 ) |