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Guild Philosophy

posted May 4, 12

Vanguard Philosophy

Vanguard -- The foremost position in an army or fleet advancing into battle.

"How do we get this done?" This should be our mantra. And no stone should go unturned in pursuit of it's answer. If we aren't failing, we aren't pushing the limits enough. We will learn more from setbacks and failure than easy success. And failure does not equal impossible, only that we've yet to conquer. We will do more with less, and take orders from no one save our commander on the battlefield. The Vanguard takes the first steps into new territories. The Vanguard thrives when facing challenge and adversity. The Vanguard gets beaten back, time and again, but will eventually prevail. Problem-solving must be our forte, and will need to be our highest virtue if we are truly to be considered the Vanguard. The way to accomplish this is through thoughtful planning and deadly execution.

Planning: Open Tent

This includes everything from forums, to blogs, vent conversation, official meetings, etc. When discussing WvW strategy and tactics, it is essential to keep a positive attitude or Open Tent. Saying that we can't do something, or that something won't work is destructive thinking -- it leads nowhere at best, and to animosity at worst. Pointing out flaws that we see in a plan, however, is required, and coming up with suggestions to address these flaws is essential. We must also consider the outrageous and ridiculous. Anyone who has worked on any serious project knows full well that today's absurdity becomes tomorrow's necessity. But the only way we can get to hear the ridiculous and outrageous idea is if we keep an Open Tent approach to discussions.

Execution: Battle Fervor

On the battlefield, there is one commodity treasured above all others -- time. Following orders is not enough. Enthusiasm for every order given is necessary. Not arguing about orders is a given. Moreover, we must not even give a thought to contrariness. Our most immediate thought must be how best to fulfill the mission given, knowing full well that every footstep, sword swing, siege placement, and arrow shot could be the difference between breeching the wall of a keep or being wiped out, even if it be while felling a Dolyak on the other side of the map. We must act as one with precision and ferocity, or all our thoughtful planning is for naught.

Gentlmen (apologies to any ladies in the guild I'm not aware of),we will be suicidal. We will care less for our own safety than for the sucess of the mission. We will consider and implement strategies and tactics that other guilds would laugh at if they were smart enough to think of them, or bold enough to dare try them. We will be the tip of the spear, constantly honed by smashing into the impossible and emmerging only sharper, more deadly. They will send legions to take our lowly tower, while we send a pittance to take their Keep. And when we celebrate the unfurling of the banners of Malicious upon another Keep, we will use their blood to whet our blades and their tears to salt our food.

We are Malicious -- The Vanguard!

Romanus of the Dark Council
Malicious Guild Leader

ArenaNet's MMO Manifesto

ArenaNet Retrospective

GW2 Hangover or What is that Char doing in the bathroom?

Romanus

"They just cut all the bullshit out of MMO's." -Dingus (paraphrase)

The backlash started before the beta got cruising -- before most even knew the beta had started. And now it continues and will snowball into the ridiculous. Judgements were made from only watching videos. Judgements are now being made after a weekend of beta. And now, everyone is an expert because everyone has played the game. I'm no expert -- on anything really. But I can judge, too. My observations will be colored more by what was not in the game, or the differences I see from other MMO's I have played (which is admittedly very few).

1. I still have not figured out combat, and I did quite a lot of it. I know I don't move around enough, or at the right time, or in the right direction. I still stop when I cast a spell or the like, though there is no need to, and it will get you killed. The biggest change I need to make before the next beta is where to keybind things. A very similar problem I have had with other MMO's, but there is a big difference here. In previous MMO's, it was about finding room on your keyboard to put something, or evaluating the skill to see if you even want to have the skill out at all (skills that cost quite a bit of money). In GW2, it is about trying to find where to put everything so that I can move, dodge, and cast at the same time. It almost feels like I am building my keyboard style as much as building a profession.

2. Ask yourself this: At what point in the game did you feel like the best use of your time was going afk to get a drink and whatnot because you really coudn't do anything or it was on an auto-pilot of some sort? 1) When the servers went down (and as I recall, it took 15 or so mins before people went afk). 2) When I was dead and decided to stay dead and wait for a rez or took the opportunity to urinate and grab a drink. No flight points. No long ass load screeens (or twenty). No waiting for queues (except for Eternal Battleground, and even then we could just go to the other shards).

3. Finally a game that makes it beneficial to be around others and not a pain in the ass to group with your friends, and there is a limit of 5 for groups. I know there is the commander system that will be able to be used in PvE as well as WvW, but this was a real drawback for me. It doesn't make sense to me that you make a game specifically designed to make group adventuring fun and not at all aggravating, but you keep the 5 man group that is standard in other MMO's. I really think they should up this number. People are complaining a lot about the splitting up of groups when zoning. I don't see any way that ArenaNet doesn't fix that.

4. I had this realization today while thinking about committing to a real support Guardian: Healers and Tanks are a pain in the ass before endgame because they just can't kill stuff. The leveling process is painful. I know. I leveled tanks and heals. The answer was dual spec, aka, play a different class to level, or grind battlegrounds, which, admittedly, wasn't all that bad, except for the queues and the lottery of getting a BG that wasn't a pain in the ass -- read Isle of Conquest -- which was more of a competative PvE event than real PvP, and the fact that if you wanted, like, money, you had to quest or do the same dungeons over and over again that were so easy as a healer at pretty much every level that I could smoke a cigarette and masturbate while healing, not to mention the fact that WoW's and SWTOR's "more complicated combat" required the spamming of two whole buttons about every 15 seconds, if the tank wasn't a pally that could just heal himself, in which case I could add rolling a joint into the multi-tasking list (and yes, this sentence is perfectly grammatically and mechanically correct).

In GW2, on the other hand, I never see a situation where I will be completely alone doing anything in the game. Even if I were to get up at 3 am, and find some dark corner of a starting area without any other players around, there are still NPC's that participate in the Dynamic Events and even the battles for supply depots, towers, and keeps include NPC's. This means that I will be playing the class I want to play, the way I want to play it from very early in the game. I want to play a support/heal Guardian, and there is never any time in this game that I can foresee being forced to not play that simply to advance or get some necessary commodity. In comparison to other MMO's, I was able to play as an effective support character almost immediately, not having to wait till some magical level where tanking or healing actually became possible or effective.

Side note: I played the Necro as a support role, but the Guardian plays a very different type and style of support. A type of variety that I was not expecting. I knew that there would be different styles, but for there to be that much range within a role is somewhat rare in games. I even see different styles of support or control or dps within professions. To those that are criticizing the combat, for whatever reason, I say you just don't get it. And honestly, I don't get it either, not completely. But what I do get points in the direction of complex, interesting, and dynamic. I also chalk it up to a large number of gamers having no interest in figuring things out.

5. Goals don't require a grind to achieve. I'm going to define grinding as repition for some goal. I realize this was only a beta, and that I only played probably 40 hours or so. The only time I felt the need to grind in any manner was to unlock weapon skills; however, the only time I felt this grind was in WvW, where unlocking skills took quite a bit of time. When I was unlocking in PvE, I never felt the grind, and especially after level 7 when you can swap weapons. I will say, in defense of the unlocking model, and as a criticism of myself that I did not use the time from one skill unlock to the next to actually learn my abilities and how they would go well together. I waited till I had unlocked them all and tried to figure it out. So, yes, I did quite a bit of spamming. But by Sunday afternoon, I was spamming a lot less and using abilities as they were needed, or a few moments after they were needed, instead. And our group didn't even come close to scratching the surface of cross-profession combos. Back to the point -- I felt no need to find some way to upgrade gear. I just spent what I could when I ran into a vendor, and felt no huge increase in power from it. I did feel the lack of certain resources, like money. But I felt this lead to making creative choices about our next move, rather than succumbing to the necessity to grind or be subpar. There was one time late on Sunday where the lack of money between us lead to a discussion of the best ways to make money. One suggestion was to go PvE for money so we could do more when we came back to WvW. This would have been a decision to grind. But I'm not sure that would have actually gotten us more money than doing what we were already doing -- what we wanted to be doing. But I say that this limitation makes things like Trebuchets more of a prized possession, and as I stated before, leads to creative decisions and tactics. Maybe the grind will appear at some point, but as of now, I just don't see it.

This is truly a different game. Funny, not back all that far, that statement would have been unnecessary. It was assumed games would be different. It was only when a game was a copy that it was brought up. For too long, World of Warcraft has been seen as a genre instead of a game within a genre. If nothing else, after playing in this weekend's beta, Guild Wars 2 has made it very clear that there is more than one way to MMORPG. There may even be a better way.

297 days till Christmas. . . Less than that for Guild Wars 2

Romanus

It's almost like Christmas. Like when I was a kid (except back then I would have known exactly how many days till Christmas). I liked Transformers. I knew I would get Transformers for Christmas. But I had no idea which ones. I wasn't a bold enough child to actually ask for specific ones, though I would be sure to leave my current collection in obvious plain view to avoid duplication. I would go to bed with thoughts of the different types of transformers: Triple changers, Optimus Prime (I never did get an Optimus Prime), Starscream (my favorite), Insecticons, Dinobots, Omega Supreme (I did get one of those). I now find myself with similar thoughts in my head as I drift to dreamland.

At first it was thinking of all the builds possible with my Engineer, and then looking through other Professions and their skills and traits. Now my thoughts turn to the battlefield, and the fun to be had. A typical dream:

A Guardian, Ranger, Necro, Elementalist, Thief, and I as Engineer. We lie hidden just over a ridge that overlooks a known choke point. There is a large enemy force approaching the choke point warily, for the point is also known by the enemy as a place few cross without harrassment. This road, only a week and a half earlier, was a popular route for green invaders. They used to travel this road in small spread out groups, or just long rows of single targets. Now they all know better and they pause before entering the choke point, pass through it with care, and even from a short distance you can almost see the relief spread through the group as they start moving again with less care.

The green invaders start taking a serious amount of damage from seemingly nowhere. Nowhere being a smal outcrop that is well hidden and contains a single thief with an arrowcart. Suddenly the group of green invaders is in a panic as a small force enters their ranks and causes chaos everywhere.

"Helspyre, you ready up there?"
"Sure am. As soon as the last man is in view, I'll give the clear call and open fire."
"There are two stragglers from the main pack. Don't worry about them."
"10-4." . . .

"Clear, opening fire."
"Malicious! Go in now!"

A series of AOE's encircle almost the entire group. One drops and keeps the enemies all inside as conditions build and build on the enemy. A couple Malicious players dive headlong into the fray. An engineer throwing and exploding mines, dropping bombs as he dodges through the crowd, and planting a Big Ole Bomb that sends green invaders flying everywhere. An elementalist, protected by rock, storms in and becomes a whirlwind, flinging the remaining invaders toward their far flung brothers.

And just as quickly, the green invaders are alone. No sign of Malicious anywehre, except their wake: green invaders bent over around the field rezzing fallen brothers. As quickly as they came, they went.

"Everyone disperse and head for the cave."

"All in."
"You think they have any idea where we are?"
"No way, took us days to find this place."
"That was fun. The keep up north knows they're coming and is ready."
"Job well done guys."

Yes, scenes like this, and others, are dancing through my head. But on a more practical note, also started thinking about actual tactics. Actual combos that would be a force in WvW. For example, I'm pretty sure the Ranger is a mostly single target profession. But I also think they can apply a few conditions. The Necro has an ability to transfer the conditions on one enemy to all nearby enemies. A match made in heaven. Add a couple other players adding conditions to one enemy, and the Necro becomes this multiplier that makes single target conditions into AOE conditions. Or how about exploding a Big Ole Bomb inside a Guardian bubble full of enemies?

What combos do you see? What abilities does your profession have that you can see being able to boost others? What abilities does your profession have that could be truly sick if boosted by others?

You get the point. Look forward to reading your ideas.

Keller

Malicious Guild

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