better before or after

I like the game when it was just proh! :d GOOD OLD DAYS

Do people really believe that they shouldn't BALANCE an online game?

I've been around since Prophecies was first released, but didn't particularly like it, I only started really playing when Nightfall was released, and they brought in Heroes.

It was better back when it was only Prophecies. I didn't play as much back then (yeah, I don't know why), but I know it was better.

Personaly I would have liked it if prophicies remained untouched and the new AI and skill changes were chapter specific, though that would certainly cause other problems it would open up the concept of people going back to prophs for fun while the more challenging areas were accessable in the new chapters.

Ofcourse that would also require all skills be split between PvE and PvP so balance could still occur.

Bawwwwwwwwwwww

Personally, I loved GW all the way from Proph - very early NF (grenth train + sf). Around this time skill balances began to suck, good guilds stopped playing and most of the friends I had made from 05 quit. Nerfs to warrior solo farming also made the game less enjoyable for me because it was a really fun thing to do when I wasn't gvging or tombing.

Even though I don't consider myself to be a PvE-orientated player, I definitely see the introduction of heroes/titles as the point where GW started to rapidly decline in its quality.

Better now. Heroes FTW!

Updates I Love:

Letting level 10's into GWEN (I can finally level up all those characters I had lost interest in, b/c I've done the beginning stuff so many times).

Bonus Mission Pack: So glad I bought the 3 slots to qualify. I love the new skins, and the missions were some of the best ever.

All in all, Anet has rekindled my faith that GW2 is going to rock.

QFT

I agree with Celestial Beaver, I thought I was gone from GW for good and tried WoW for a month. I will admit my frustrations over many changes had got the best of me. All it has really done is cause me to fall in love with my Monk all over again considering how very bad the competition is.

Overall GW is a very polished game the class options very unique and creative. My only exceptions in GW's design are based upon some poor balance choices ANET has made in regards to PvP balance. I don't blame ANET for those choices anymore, but rather the "balance Nazi's" community. I still believe they should have separated PvP skills from PvE skills. A failure to do so is a lack of faith in the community to adapt in both the PvE and PvP. Many of these "balance" changes have made too many skills virtually useless in PvE in most circumstances. Also too many "whiiiinnnners" have made farming almost unbearable now with most FOW Armor almost unobtainable to most casual players.

Old skool <3

I liked Prophecies the best. Less people=tighter community with less tards. Rares were rare in those days, and the game didn't cater to casual players as much (it did somewhat).

Back when I could solo Griffons for fun, or Lornars/Snake Dance/Talus on my Warrior without much challenge. Which is the way it should be considering the best drops you could get were Runes. Ettins were fun too.


But some of the other campaigns added things I thought were fun and good skills. Like Flail and Wisdom title (I actually don't buy rares so its' fun for me).

the introduction of Inscriptions is what i regret see implemented the most. I can remember when you were very lucky if you had a "15^50" weapon of any req....now almost any weapon of color can be made perfect....I am all about everyone being able to get "perfect" weapons..but i thought thats what green weapons were for...if anet would just take out inscriptions.....i think the majority of forum pve players would rejoice!

Drops were nerfed (loot scaling)
RA was nerfed (Dishonour)
HA was messed around with but changed back after everyone quit
and HM still isnt 100% solo friendly
Oh, and LoD was made useless

I still play because I like the game, but it could be a lot better.

I play PvE, and PvE has tons more options now (more areas & monsters, more professions, more loot, more minigames, title grind if I feel like it, BMP, etc.). In that sense, GW is better now because there are more ways to have fun, and you can still play the original content. I do think the original game was (and still is) the best GW release.

That said, I do think Anet is too quick to nerf good skills and far too slow to improve bad skills (I'd take the opposite approach). I also think Anet is completely ineffectual and has done nothing but implement bad changes in regards to economics and farming (whether we're talking AI updates, skill nerfs that had no relation to PvP, the old farming code, the loot scaling system, the "no auction house" announcements, whatever).

Started playing shortly after launch, and agree with what HWF says. I sure miss the Ettin farming but there are other ways to get gold now. I don't agree with every change that has been made, but I don't see any of them as game busting. It does keep things interesting when your favorite skills have been nerfed and you have to come up with something different.

Still find the game fun. Take breaks when I get bored, come back some months later, love it all over again. Only game that is able to do that for me, replaced my D2.

Only the Half-life series keeps me coming back for more, but thats for an entirely separate reason. Thats to get my action on lol.

GWEN has yet to be completed because I took a hiatus this late summer/fall, but I am back at it and loving it. Its amazing how a little time off the game (plus a new computer) makes all the difference in loving it.

WRONG!!!!! My entire guild thought inscriptions were the greatest thing ever. I don't care what any of the economists say. Because economists like math, and math, is definitely a part of the axis of evil.

It was definitely harder to get things (i.e that nice weapon) when it was just Prophecies. My warrior got to end game wielding the reward sword from Villainy of Galrath quest. I could have gotten collectors or crafted a sword, but good weapon mods wasn't easy to come by either - only decent place to farm apart from UW/FoW were the griffons and hydras in the desert. The following campaigns did make things alot easier - good perfect green items, inscriptions, more farming places, easier to make gold cash. In a way, it did somewhat removed that challenge (lack of a better word) of finding that nice item, working to some extent for Elite armour. Sometimes I do think that it was better when it was Prophecies only, but some of the things introduced by the following campaigns did make my game time in GW much better - mainly the heroes, additional different stories. Some of the skill changes did hurt some of my fun builds, but hey, it's no big deal - there are other builds to play with and discover. I left GW to try other games. I thought Eve Online was great, however I didn't find it as rewarding as GW on many levels so came back and bought NF when EotN was released.

Sorrows Furnace release, around that time was the best time in Guild Wars, so many PuG teams for absoultley anything. ( I remember one group we had spent 1 1/2 hours capping everything in mineral springs, people didnt just leave after there cap). Now a days people just want titles which arent even impressive anymore. Really people want 7 heroes, whats the point because guild wars suck hard as a solo game, if I cant do something with at least one other person I wont do it, im not gunna put too much effort into getting most titles with heroes just to relise that noone cares anymore and theyll probably results in a mini pet in GW2.

Anet have destroyed a lot of the aspects of the game whether you agree or not, mini pets was a bad move, folowed by loot scaling, then 25 heroes with limits of 3, then a expansion which 95% of people seem to think was half done....I wont go on but you get the drift.

all these threads....


I'm gonna get banned I can feel it

I guess I would say better in terms of refining the interface, ways to do things, making the game more accessible... but the skills are terrible and super limited due mostly to pvp nerfs now. Particularly in endgame level 20 content there's not a lot you can take through a given area. Farming is also just as retarded in the super specificness of builds you need. It's alright if you're willing to play ball how Anet has allowed, but I think most players understandably just laugh at the idea of such content and don't bother with it.

This game was a lot of fun from the time of launch to Prophecies. There was a very focused line of PvE, culminating with the UW/FoW and ultimately FoW armor and wealth. PvP was focused in 2 lines. The casual line was RA/TA and to a lesser extent Tombs. The dedicated line was Tombs and GvG, and success was measured on a dynamic (and IMO more fun) ladder ranking and Halls holding runs.

Now observe today. We have players on 3 continents doing their Cartographer, Guardian, title grind, chest running, FFF, AB, HA, Glad point farms, Urgoz, Deep, etc. on top of the original game play.

This has diluted the game community among all these areas, while delivering new content and adding game elements. You can't expand without diluting unless you have a constant inflow of gamers.

On the PvP side of things, the additions of new professions and new skills escalated the pace of GvG and really forced heavily defensive builds, thus narrowing space for creativity in builds. This, along with observer mode, homogenized the PvP community and made it feel...well...kind of like PvE. Same monsters, same skills, different day. To further make it feel inconsequential, the ladder feels stagnant with a win/loss not moving you up or down too much. The ladder went from BCS insanity to the MLB regular season (ZZzzZz...wake me in October).

All in all, it's still a great game. As long as ANET learns from it's experiments with GW1, I can't wait for GW2.