Non Fan Boy Opinions

The trouble with all new MMO's id that the information from Fanbois is suspect. They just arent capable of spotting flaws in their much anticipated game.

 I prefer the less rose tinted view. This post has a go at having a critical look at Guild Wars 2.

Haters > Fanbois

This is my favorite bit:

#7 – Choices are Problems

Flaw #7 begins the path of objectivity. You can refute the profession overlap or the neglect of good ol’ Guild Wars, but you cannot refute the fact that Guild Wars 2 is trying to sell you the illusion of choice. Even though you’re locked into your first five skills because of your choice of weapon, there are still many other “choices” in Guild Wars 2 that will bring your character together. Not including the numerous tweaks to nose length and lip voluptuosity that I’m sure most of you will spend hours on, there are a bunch of choices like your weapon sets, jewellery, healing skill, utility skills, elite skills, attributes, traits, and so on that all affect gameplay. I call these “choices” an illusion because they aren’t really choices but rather problems that need solving. You choose between a path to victory and a path to defeat, rather than two different paths to victory. Here’s a snapshot of the difference:

To Solve: Arrive at a solution, usually by means of a mathematical operation or geometric construction. Solving a problem will reveal a “choice” between viable and not viable; you’re choosing between a path to victory and a path to defeat.

To Choose: To select from a number of possibilities; pick by preference. You pick from comparably viable options, or two different but equally efficient paths to victory.

Viable here means the most efficient path to victory, where victory is defeating your opponent or completing an objective. I can’t say a choice between playing to win and playing to lose is not a choice, because it is, just as much as choosing whether or not to eat is still a choice. The catch is the conclusion of the alternative is so dire that it questions the validity of the premise. Why play if not to win? If we put the semantics aside, we can say a choice between winning or losing isn’t a real choice. It’s the illusion of a choice. Once you factor in competition, however, losing actually is not an option; competition wouldn’t exist if it were. Hopefully that was a clear explanation, so let me show you how the game is creating the illusion.

I like critical looks at MMO's when they are in beta. There are way too many Fanbois posting and there contributions other than the factual ones ( you know trait X does Y) are near worthless.

I would rather have some one rip the game  as they have less of vested interest than the fanboi. Most people who don't like it will ignore it. If some one takes the time to criticize it he may have something to say.

That article has only a few points I would agree with but some of them were stimulating. The bit on choice or on illegible combat were good. The bit about it not being Guild Wars 2 strikes me as filler so he could get to 10 items on his list.

 It doesn't deal with the biggest issue, will the game be able to deliver mass PvP on its engine. Warhammer and Swtor failed at this. ironically the wow engine can do it but they don't have the necessary environment. I wonder how hard would it be to have a server v server v server expansion for WoW. Lore wise it would take some work but game wise it would be doable.