While usually this series is reserved for videos or articles by the community that are worthy of positive attention, this video is one that showcases a large amount of ignorance.
Yes, I know these are her first impressions. However, if you are going to take the time to make a 10 minute video featuring everything you do like and everything you don't like, than please take the time to make sure that your opinion has some validation behind it.
Video can be found by clicking here. Pokket's Impressions
To start off my laundry list of complaints is her critique of WvW. She begins by talking about the health of doors and the capability of an enemy team to repair a keep/tower. Pokket then begins to critique that it takes too long to take down a door, especially when being repaired by the opposing team. She says this while showing a clip of her elementalist autoattacking the door, even as far as saying "auto-attacking a door for another hour." Really? She says she spent most of her time in WvW, so my question is why are you wasting your time auto-attacking? She doesn't seem to know the importance of siege weapons, and then complains about the enemy team being able to repair the door even while under attack. They are called siege weapons, emphasis on the word "siege". A well-supplied keep or tower is supposed to be able to outlast an enemy force. That's what makes supply so important, it is working as intended. She also never thought of attacking another door (for a keep) or attacking a portion of the wall. In the video it clearly shows a reinforced door, that can and should be able to withstand an enemy force.
And then she goes on to comment about the rewards, saying her 50 copper she earned from an hour long siege is not enough. She does not mention the amount of karma or glory she earned and seems to be ignorant of these two currencies. She fails to understand that every couple minutes by attacking and failing to capture a tower/keep, you will get a gold medal in an event that gives you gold, karma, and glory. The event is given because you failed to take the tower/keep after 5 or so minutes (I do not know the precise amount of time.) So you are not getting 50 copper for an hour long siege, but in actuality much more than that in gold, karma, and glory. I also think that ArenaNet is trying to discourage hour long sieges, and they are trying to get teams to make efficient use of their time. If a keep is well stocked, maybe you should go and attack the supply routes feeding their keep. Every single complaint about WvW just seemed to showcase how ignorant she was about this portion of the game.
She then continues by complaining about the lack of place off melee characters in WvW. I think most of the community agrees in part with this statement. However, she loses my sympathy when you begin to realize she doesn't know that every profession can equip a ranged weapon set. (Yes, the guardian is at the moment at a disadvantage in this respect. The sceptor is a mid-ranged weapon that has several fundamental design problems. ArenaNet has mentioned on the official forums that they were definitely interested in our opinion of the sceptor during the most recent beta.) How can you pretend to be a gaming source and not know that? Please, do your homework before making a video for thousands of people to watch. You are spreading misinformation.
Pokket then starts attacking the 5v5 competitive PvP aspect of the game. She starts off by saying that it is just alright, and that it was nothing new. Again, this is working as intended, its not supposed to be different from WoW's battlegrounds, its another form of instanced, but is intended to showcase balanced PvP. I'm not sure she understands that it is supposed to be an Esport and that the gameplay does reward you. She complains that it does not give you gold. It may not reward you in gold, but it rewards you in glory. Glory can be used to buy new equipment, and I'm not sure what else you would need from this portion of the game. You don't need money because you don't need to repair. Achievements can also be earned that win you titles. What else do you really want?
I think everyone has seen the "I want to see enemy names in WvW." This is a rather big debate topic among the community, so she is right to have an opinion on this. Her point is that it adds a sense of community. She seems to miss the point that you change realms every 2 weeks. So that "rival" example she elaborates on completely misses the point. You will gain a sense of community on your server. Gaining a sense of game community by fighting someone on another server is a very temporary thing. After 5 different match ups over 3 months ago will you really care about that rivalry with that thief from server B? The answer could be yes from some people, but if you then ask, is that memory of your rivalry with that thief somehow less because you didn't know his name? I don't think it does. I think ArenaNet is trying to safeguard the average newcomer from being bullied by the opposing realm for doing something stupid. This is not the type of community they are trying to create. My solution, and the best solution I have seen from the community, is that there should be an option to turn your name on/off in WvW, with the default option as off. That way you satisfy both sides and its a win-win for everyone.
Pokket is normally a decent reviewer and when she represents MMORPG.com, I would hope that she would be at least somewhat accurate. I'm disappointed with her impression of the game, not because it's critical, but because of her overall ignorance of the game. Its one thing to make an article and say, this is my first time playing the game and I knew next to nothing coming in to at least qualify what ever you are going to say. However, she comes off as trying to be knowledgeable by referencing posts made by developers, etc. and yet she seems to be ignorant of several main features of the game. If you are going to give impressions, please do your homework, and do it reasonably well.
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