mekal wrote:now im relatively new to the server ~2 months but in the short amount of time a couple of friends of mine have already moved on due to how utterly unfriendly this game is to melee dps being 100% at the mercy of allied tanks
how people fail to notice this snowball effect and branching repercussions is beyond me
In all fairness, the reason people fail to notice this is they either
- play EU during high population times OR
- have a group of friends that they can always play with.
I have been in both camps during my time here (worked flex hours or during a week when I take a day off, play and the population easily supports grouping).
I have also had a group of guys who were always on at the same time as I, and made it easy to play whatever I wanted (this was when I was order and made my BW... was tons of fun!)
So, the "why" is because grouping alleviates the issue. For instance, last night we ran a 6 man roam/SC group. The classic 2-2-2. It was fun and dynamic. Tanks calling out guard swaps and challenge rotations etc. It was fun (for the most part). So people get in their minds "why fix what aint broke" because to them, in groups (which are easy for them to form) its not a problem... BUT....
Nefarian78 wrote: during the NA times when there are 200 people online which only 75-90 (and 60% of those players are on Order side)
Some players are FORCED to pug because there are not enough people online to even form a sc group, because most of them are in RvR.
The changes to guard that have been suggested wouldn't have a major impact (almost not at all) in premade play while being a great change for players that can't form a premade because the lack of people.
Trying to sweep issues under the rug isn't going to help beacuse casuals exist and are a big chunk of RoR playerbase and like it or not every MMO needs casuals to survive.
The numbers are always going down, and if no one tries to change some things in the game, i don't think RoR can survive for long only having high numbers when a big patch is released and then dropping low every time. Guard surely isn't the only issue this game has but it's worth to take a look at, at least try to change it and see how it goes. it's better than not doing anything at all.
Also, enlighten me why you paint guard like if it's something that requires insane amount of skill to use, because for me it doesn't. Guard is a mostly passive ability in a slow paced game where switching kill targets takes ages compared to other MMOs, i really can't see where the difficulty using guard is, other than having a good positioning.
Nefarian nailed it exactly.
- Guard isnt solo/PUG friendly and relies on who is on, for you to be able to play the game. Which leads to...
- players being forced to PUG during low pop times (NA mostly) which hurts the "casual" experience which leads to...
- Numbers going down
And underlying ALL of this is the fact that guard is "mostly passive ability in a slow paced game where switching kill targets takes ages compared to other MMOs, i really can't see where the difficulty using guard is, other than having a good positioning."
As someone who mains tanks in this game (I have 4, 2 on each side in tier 4) who has dabbled in DPS classes as well (to understand the plight of RDPS AND MDPS) I can see why having tanks that use their tools and play their role is CRUCIAL. However even in premade situations, I would STILL rather have guard work as an active ability - akin to using Challenge (damage reducer, active ability with a CD) rather than something passive that I must "swap" by double clicking (which sometimes bugs with latency or lag spike).
Which if guard was turned into a "mini" immaculate defense. I think it would benefit ALL players and MAY even introduce more skill into the game at higher levels of play (forcing coordination of using Guard due to CD/positioning) while making it MUCH more "casual/solo friendly".