7:23 pm, October 1, 2013
147
Traded Trinity for What (PvE)?
Before I get into this let me say that I'm really enjoying the game so far. I actually came into the game with a very negative experience from the beta, but my opinion changed in only a few hours.
My only real complaint at this time, however, is that I can't quite see what this game has gained by removing the so-called "Holy Trinity" of tank, healer, and damage based roles.
The most popular argument I see is that, without the trinity, creating groups for dungeons and other group-based content is much more easy. That problem, however, is also easily solvable by giving the player access to multiple talent builds at once, a la Rift. People say that "you can do everything on one character" in GW2, but, again, you can do so as well in Rift as it is without needing to remove the trinity.
The other argument I see, and the one I want to focus on the most, is that it makes combat more engaging, what with the high damage and dodge system that's in place. This is the part that, to me, was a complete loss. While choosing to remove the trinity in order to make grouping easier is simply another option within the same category as offering multiple specs, I don't feel the same way about the effects the lack of the trinity has on the actual combat gameplay itself, at least not so far (level ~20).
The average boss fight, from my perspective, always plays out the same: someone will get threat and either run around like a chicken with their heads cut off to stay alive or use their two dodge rolls first and then run around trying to stay alive. Either the boss will **** this unfortunate player or switch to another player who will then proceed to do the same exact thing. Melee are, of course, entirely at a disadvantage in this situation, but I believe that's a problem ANet already knows about.
What I don't get is how this even came to pass in the first place. I feel like the game thinks I can dodge more often than I actually can during most PvE encounters, like the enemy NPC design team team lost the "by the way we went with only 2 dodge rolls, please adjust everything" email from the player abilities team.
Fighting a larger creature that telegraphs each one of its moves is fun. I have to utilize my two dodges, my CC, and my damage prevention abilities to be able to come out unscathed. Fighting multiple small enemies feels like I was just loaded up with DoTs and have no cleanse on hand, which is not very fun at all. Fighting an event boss is, as previously described, a rather banal "zerg zerg zerg run run run zerg zerg zerg dead" experience.
If the answer is that I'm using the wrong spec, and should change from what I want to play to what I "should" play, then doesn't that also indicate that removing the trinity didn't actually add or fix anything? Sure, it fixed the problem of cookie cutter builds being required to perform your chosen role, but at the expense of introducing the problem of cookie cutter builds being required to perform the only role.
Again, I'm really enjoying pretty much every aspect of the game, but I just don't see what's so great about not having the trinity and having everything I just described in its place instead.
My only real complaint at this time, however, is that I can't quite see what this game has gained by removing the so-called "Holy Trinity" of tank, healer, and damage based roles.
The most popular argument I see is that, without the trinity, creating groups for dungeons and other group-based content is much more easy. That problem, however, is also easily solvable by giving the player access to multiple talent builds at once, a la Rift. People say that "you can do everything on one character" in GW2, but, again, you can do so as well in Rift as it is without needing to remove the trinity.
The other argument I see, and the one I want to focus on the most, is that it makes combat more engaging, what with the high damage and dodge system that's in place. This is the part that, to me, was a complete loss. While choosing to remove the trinity in order to make grouping easier is simply another option within the same category as offering multiple specs, I don't feel the same way about the effects the lack of the trinity has on the actual combat gameplay itself, at least not so far (level ~20).
The average boss fight, from my perspective, always plays out the same: someone will get threat and either run around like a chicken with their heads cut off to stay alive or use their two dodge rolls first and then run around trying to stay alive. Either the boss will **** this unfortunate player or switch to another player who will then proceed to do the same exact thing. Melee are, of course, entirely at a disadvantage in this situation, but I believe that's a problem ANet already knows about.
What I don't get is how this even came to pass in the first place. I feel like the game thinks I can dodge more often than I actually can during most PvE encounters, like the enemy NPC design team team lost the "by the way we went with only 2 dodge rolls, please adjust everything" email from the player abilities team.
Fighting a larger creature that telegraphs each one of its moves is fun. I have to utilize my two dodges, my CC, and my damage prevention abilities to be able to come out unscathed. Fighting multiple small enemies feels like I was just loaded up with DoTs and have no cleanse on hand, which is not very fun at all. Fighting an event boss is, as previously described, a rather banal "zerg zerg zerg run run run zerg zerg zerg dead" experience.
If the answer is that I'm using the wrong spec, and should change from what I want to play to what I "should" play, then doesn't that also indicate that removing the trinity didn't actually add or fix anything? Sure, it fixed the problem of cookie cutter builds being required to perform your chosen role, but at the expense of introducing the problem of cookie cutter builds being required to perform the only role.
Again, I'm really enjoying pretty much every aspect of the game, but I just don't see what's so great about not having the trinity and having everything I just described in its place instead.