APCJunky: The days of sweaty MMO/RPG's are over, if your player base can't just dip in and dip out when time allows your loosing out on customers, if you then need to do a thesis to understand the game simply to stay alive then spend hours on spread sheets and target dummies to achieve even passable DPS then maybe 10% of your player base will love you, while 90% will spend there money elsewhere...and there in lies the rub, if your game play doesn't put bums on seats then there is not enough money and the game dies.

There is no perfect solution, there is no one size fits all, but as someone who has played games since the early 70's what i can tell you is this, the majority of players who are prepeared to put the work in to MMO's are getting old and games can no longer dictate there schedule, plus age and things like aging eyes, RSI etc take there toll, while younger players have MOBA's and the grind of getting into an MMO's is often too much of an obsticle, and have more of a tendancy to go to the gym, mountain bike or god forbid socialise!

Add to this alot of popular games are just getting old now, sheesh I've been playing some of them for 20 years now, and comming in fresh with nothing is a huge hurdle, playing a fresh new MMO is an amazing experiance, but joining a 10 to 20 year old one - not so great, especially if you game is super hard for your accomplished long time end game players, our newbie is either faced with a horrible grind, usually fastracked though content by the devs so it makes little sense, or pays for a level boost, then either begs or pays for boosts to farm gear or buys gold to buy gear etc etc...end result is a dead open world and toxic culture (we can all point to one particular game as proof of this).

So while I see and understand the premise of you argument and as little as 10 years ago would have agreed, this is not the case now and devs are currenlty struggling to find the sweet spot for what will keep new blood comming and old blood staying around.

And more accessible games with less comitment and grind seems to be the general consensus.

For example, I played GW2 when it was new before any expansion (yes I remember old lions arch) I had leveled one charector which was enjoyable but then I was done, I could not get my head around the end game there was just nothing fun for me to do, it was a game I wanted to like and each expak I would come back only to leave in short order, Crystal Desert should have hooked me with the mounts but with no gear etc I just got squished (see point about older games) and at the time with other games catching my eye I CNBA putting the work in to grind up (see point about thesis) so I played other MMO's.

A few months ago in a world where the usual MMO suspects feel like they have run there course now but the companies that own them have put so much money in them and can't let them die, I was loosing hope of something fun to play I thought I would give GW2 another shot, I was pleasantly surprised at how much more accesesible it was, pleased that I could level without elite skills and more so when I got them, happy that acceptable gear could be pick up cheaply on the AH, and the economy was not is a state of run away inflation, with no homework/revision I set about playing and was drawn in to working for my mounts, the crystal desert was very enjoyable and the open world events very satisfying, I have a full clear of the the orginal world on one character and am working on it again on what is now my main, currenlty playing secrets of the obscure, got all mounts now except turtle, and am working on the original skyscale (just rep tokens to grind now grrr).

And I am having a great time, it seems like foreever since I had this much fun in an MMO, but I can take a break anytime I want and its all still there for me when i get back - no FOMO.

If I had to have a gear score and a DPS average, and certain addons, and had to be able to mash 16 buttons like a concert pianist - I would not be playing, and the evidence shows i'm not alone, just take a look at what other MMO's are doing as they try to stave off the decline.

Well thats alot to say and not nearly as much as I would have liked to, my final words are - be carefull your not to close to the problem, im here because you do some great build videos some of which I have copied, I dont have access to the gear you do, or the playtime and skill you do (am older and have RSI) so the dps I do does not match yours, but I'm ok with that and the game allows me to be ok with that...

Geordina: I dissagree. Power creep is important to be able to complete all those expansions without it taking a decade. Its not out of hand, espessially since the game is so old that most of the powergamers have left the game, leaving the casual fans with jobs and family to only jump in occadionally. Most of the members i invite to my guild are over the age of 35. They want to relax after their hectic days and hunt down achievements, complete metas, do strikes and fractals, and i often hear complaints about how hard and frustrating HT, OLC, LT, Sunqua Peak & Silent Surf are. Imagine if people had to do those with core classes. Hardly anyone would be able to complete them, and nobody would. I'll start admitting to powercreep being too high when we can kill Epach metabattle in 30 seconds, when he behaves like a pinjata outside of april fools.

zyankaly: I absolutely agree with you and the power creep is the reason i stopped playing and spending money in gw2 several months ago. I hate power creep and I stopped playing several games because of it. The buffing system in gw2 got totally out of hand.

wanya6046: in HoT if you hit 15k average dps for a raid you were fine some builds can reach 45k nowadays so yeah power creep is making old content laughable

chelo136: They should increase old raids health pool to make it that all of them at leats takes 2 minutes to kill , raid being kill in 40 seconds like it happens now is a joke

NoNeed4Sympathy: Im just so happy that there is no new "best in slot gear" for which you would have to invest massive amounts of time in to get. That would be a reason to never touch the game again for me.

cromo007: U forgot to mention the importants of boons in the game. That increased the power creep even more.

pierrengu: People also cry when over performing outliers get nerfed

ChrisWalker-j6n: IMO, this is a good thing... GW2's combat is notoriously difficult for a lot of people. I'm not saying faceroll is good, but a little easier over time is a good thing.

JackKapral: But what is basically the purpose of the game? It is to have fun. So not really that much people, especially casual players (that always are the biggest part of playerbase, maybe except mentioned by Joseph Eve Online) will worry about balance and power creep. Power creep makes You, as a player, feel powerful and yes - it might result in things similar to WoW, damage numbers counted in hundreds of thousands or even millions, but let's be honest with ourselves - horizontal progression is harder to maintain as a fun experience (without any power creep) in a long run, unless You're aiming for a game that can be "completed" (as in some sort of "completionist" achievement) and then players move on. Even if You add more content with story and all, it won't be as captivating (unless You have REALLY GOOD storytelling) for players as a game with vertical progression. You may of course make an argument about gear relevancy (it is used in case of Guild Wars 2 as long as i remember, and i own this game since the beginning), but honestly, seasoned players with minmaxing will always gravitate towards the best builds and gear, and then this things become "meta". This makes the power creep essentially a necessary part of game that is being developed through many years, if You want to retain players. So yeah, don't think it's really out of hand :D. At least not for "avarage" player.

OoSysteM0fADownoO: Is that what could explain that being a fairly new player I'm getting demolished in WvW (besides skill level)?

ShiyoKozuki: Power creep since EoD has removed all content from the game for me pre-EoD because it just falls over instantly or effortlessly. That's not fun, it's boring.

They need to go back and buff the HP of everything pre-EoD by 500%.

MercilessMort: One of the biggest problems of GW2 is, apart of powercreep, that it doesn't give you any progress. The ascended gear you made several years ago is still viable and playable and if you have all 3 legendary sets u have almost nothing to do in the game. All the content is for a couple of weeks or month and it's over. You don't have any options to get stronger, no options to upgrade the gear, no options to get game-changing stuff that would allow you to play your character on the different side or even make some crazy fun build or dive into some try-hard stuff like keys in WoW

nitramx1470: I wish they added CMs to older raid wings and strikes retroactively, I do like that that older content can be clearable for noobs, as an easier entry to endgame content, but adding a bit of spice to say w1-3 would be nice. Even if it was just a timer, or more pressure on healing... lets take gorseval, lil dude has been powercrept so hard, and that fight can be made less braindead simply by giving him more hp. Xera could be a great fight on CM.

JosephSaintClair: Oh yes. I remember when we first entered Vale Guardian. It was brutal. Getting a kill was like doing some insane Eve Online level spreadsheets to figure things out. Like what builds boon stripped enough, what condi dps was needed, etc!!! And gear… haha. Peeps still rocked rare gear sometimes

MyOrangeString: For me, as a "leveling" player, my most frustrating experience has been trying to reach a boss or event before it's dead in the Open World, and missing by a hair and getting no participation.

Not only because of power creep, but also because top 3 DPS players are on skyscale.

I was so frustrated the first few times that I almost quit the game.

I say "leveling" with quotes because I am not only talking about road to level 80, but even after, as you progress through the game in order, slowly get your masteries. I already got more than 100 hours, going through HoT for the first time, and in Verdant Brink, the minute the helicopters touch down the Matriarch Wyvern is already dead.

And then nobody sticks around those maps anymore and you can't get to Tier 4. It feels really unfair, I stay all night long doing night events, I miss out on the big boss loot, and the participation doesn't even go to Tier 4 so no Bladed Armor for me.

snowdropfox5754: GW2 will eventually follow suit with GW1 and just let the powercreep flow free and that's when we enter the maintenance mode era.

So when can I solo Chak Meta? :)

MisterNo1111: Ou yea, i can confirm that as super-casual that plays halph year. Its just sad in some maps or events how overpowered we are. Hopefully thay find solution to that, folowing the steps begining zone events where all can participate...i hope just that thay are aware and looking for solution...

This is before listening the video...

businassman: not sure why it is bad, because u want new players to have higher leraning curve? But why? Because u did when game hadn't this option?

I think it is more fun to press same button 10 times, not 100 (and if we speak about gw2 its like 10 instead of 11-12, because dps grow is not so insane)

as for veterans or players who want more hard content, sure it is problem. But it is more like fundamental problem - many different groups of players, who want different things from the same game. Yeah it is hard to balance, and probably impossible, because none will be happy, if u try to do all groups interest at same time. Maybe you need to check more hardcore projects then, like V rising. And just accept, that gw 2 is casual friendly game, dunno. I can't say I'm expert here, maybe my opinion also wrong.

zephyruspring: Very coincidental that you released a tier list about healers right after this video. Healers in this game are insanely overpowered. Damage has crept up 30-40% since pre-HoT but the healing and boon application has gone through the roof to the point of impacting the game design decisions made by the devs. The kind of healing and support we can put out in this game is what you would expect from ultimate abilities in other games. This is a clear symptom of refusing to nerf the overpowered supports (e.g. firebrand) and instead choosing to buff every other class up to their level. The major lack of stability and aegis across every class except guardian should have been a dead giveaway that the core gameplay loop was under threat back in PoF. Now we're at the stage where the devs are increasingly introducing unblockable and unavoidable attacks to combat this rise in team support power.

The reason this is a bad thing is because it lowers the value of bringing utility as a dps. Weapons with blocks are almost universally weaker dps options in this game because that kind of utility is already expected to be supplied by the support. Rather than being considered a positive aspect of the weapon, these types of defensive abilities are treated like dead skills. You could consider it a potential drop in value because it could be reversed by nerfing supports, but as more encounters are released with unblockable attacks that lack of value becomes more and more set in stone. The same goes for evades and any other kind of team support you could think to bring as a dps.

The raw healing per second is another huge problem but this comment is long enough already so I'll keep it short. Every build is forced to bring a dedicated healing skill, but this skill is also devalued by just how much raw healing a full healing build can output due to the game design shifts caused by this much raw healing. Raid builds fall over like wet tissue paper in the open world because they rely entirely on the overpowered supports to prop them up, which is a clear example of how useless the dedicated healing skills have become as the game design has subtly shifted.

xXx_FilthyCasual_xXx: ur right and anet should hire u at least as a part timer to keep them in check xD :D

zoroking09: Great video

Icagel0: I don't think power creep is out of control, while a couple old fights could be rebalanced a bit (mainly WB & strikes as you can so often ignore mechanics), you're grossly overestimating the new/casual player mechanics. Players in high-level content mostly don't die to raw stats, they die to fight mechanics, not knowing the fights, their full class kit or just screwing up in the meantime.

We spent 4 hours last night on an averagely experienced group just trying to kill Dhuum (not even the whole raid), had a blast throughout the entire time. Obviously this would be much simpler and shorter to a hardcore player that's done this over and over again, but for your average player going into high level content there's a still a lot of challenge and a lot to learn.

The increase in DPS makes the fights shorter, agreed, but that's not always a bad thing and as long as the mechanics in the fights are still a thing the fights are still engaging (see: not strikes). Old raid fights are still super good, maybe just add a tiny % hp increase to outweight relic power and you're done.

You can say the issue is that we don't get enough high-level hardcore content, which I would agree with, but for hardcoring and pushing the raw maximum of build capabilities there's always WvW and PVP.

The spear and weaponmastering being close to universal meta was dumb though, and that should be toned down a bit.

Edit: Forgot to add, but World Bosses and World Events (especially the ones in Tyria) are the ones that could use number adjusting the most, just because of the raw number of players. I think ANET is scared that if they overtune them they will become impossible as there's so many more maps now and the population is more diluted.

dixieflatline1189: Most players will never hit snowcrows benchmarks - including people like me - playing on and off since release.

So it's rotation knowledge & application 1st, then balancing (class always makes a different depending on latest patch). Then it's overall power creep from base to latest expac.

New players just focus on rotation if dps numbers are your thing. Game knowledge will come quick enough.

DezzieYT: The divide between the "hardcore" and "casual" player base in GW2 has been an issue for quite a while. EoD really made it obvious with the final battle of the expansion. AN added a punishing raid-style fight to what is an open-world event. Of course, the "hardcore" players blasted through it so when the "casual" players complained about the high difficulty they're response was, "Get good lol". Even amongst some of the "big names" in the GW2 community while they tried to sound sympathetic they fought tooth and nail to keep that raid level difficulty intact.

lightningRatPack: Ya Power creep is mad. I used to play Gw2 around 10 years ago, 3 weeks ago i started playing again and yesterday i brought to first expansions HOT and POF. Just unlock my specialisations and the power creep is insane especially for me that likes to play Power builds it's in crazy the amount of damage you can do now. Condition damage is also got insane when I last played there was no one even used a condition build now they're everywhere

Jun 07 2025

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