Yesterday I started looking at the April Features update which was introduced to Guild Wars 2 last week. With so many changes that took place in one patch I wondered if now was a good time to return to Tyria. I looked at the cosmetic changes, traits, world bosses, and the ever controversial mega server. Now I’ll be looking at how combat has changed as well as looking at WvW and PvP and ending with a look a what actually drove me away, the living story. Plus I will give my final verdict on if now is a good time to go back to Guild Wars 2 or not.
For the most part combat remains the same. Due to the introduction of Ferocity though people aren’t hitting as hard so fights might actually take a little bit longer than before. This is no bad thing in my mind so long as it doesn’t go on to the point where combat is tedious. Which in my mind some of the zone bosses are at that point. Runes also got a change, but if I’m completely honest I didn’t notice anything different. Two handed weapons can finally have two sigils! Now this I actually noticed. This is something that two handed players have been waiting for! And after the wardrobe changes this is the most exciting part of the update.
Perhaps the biggest change to WvW is that WXP, that is XP earned towards WvW points, has all been refunded. This is because WXP is now account wide. But that doesn’t mean that the way you spend your points on one character will be the same for all the others. And to me this is a beautiful thing. It means you can have one character who is a siege specialist and other who is insane and just runs around everywhere killin’ foes. All of that for less work than before. Though that does raise an eyebrow for me at least. But more on the eyebrow raising later.
Now I will admit, I’m not a PvPer. sPvP just never grabbed me. So while I can read the patch notes about the new reward system, and I know there are some wardrobe pieces which you can only get through PvP I can’t really say talk about the changes or if they change how I look at the game. I can say that the changes to PvP aren’t enough to make me want to try it. I may be a completionist but I don’t need those wardrobe part enough to jump into the arena.
There were a few changes in the update that made me raise an eyebrow. Especially when those things are put up with other things that have been taking place recently. First, there is the mega server. Generally what the introduction of the mega server says to me is that there were servers which didn’t have the population to support it. Even playing on a well populated server there were entire zones that were abandoned most of the time. The mega server allows for a consolidation without actually coming out and saying that populations are dropping. Another thing that raised an eyebrow was armor repair costs being eliminated. I can only come up with two reasons for this to be introduced. One, an attempt to keep people by making it easier for them to focus their hard earned money on items and time gated crafting. Or two, this is just the first step and something big is on its way. Add the mega server and the drop of armor repair costs to the fact that Arenanet has started giving away a free item in the store every day and I can’t help but wonder what is going on. Are players leaving the game that much? Do they have to resort to giving incentives to stay? Or maybe I’m just seeing things that aren’t there. It is hard to say either way without concrete numbers which we are unlikely to ever see.
So what was it that drove me away? The living story. In so many ways it was just one poor choice after another. The poor writing, the poor execution in game, the fact that it was basically a badly written fan fiction for Batman, or more accurately Harley Quinn, it was just too much for me. My real concern is that Arenanet will just start up with the next living story and it will continue to be the same terrible formula that hasn’t been working for them. So for me the April Features has done nothing to restore my faith in the game. It added some nice cosmetic touches but what really matters to me is the story. If the story falls flat no amount of mechanics changes will save the game for me.
All this leaves me with now is my final verdict. It is clear that Arenanet is trying. Unfortunately I don’t think the April changes are really significant enough for people to go back. It won’t be until the next living story starts that I’ll be ready to give it another try. That being said, I loved my time back in the game, I loved playing my characters again. And I may even log in a few more times before the next living story starts. But that story will be a make or break point for Guild Wars 2. And I don’t think I’m alone in my views.
