28 minutes ago, Salvatore.3749 said:
Thank you for the questions. You asked some good ones. I think that's just it, some people want to play alone. And they want to play the game their way. There was actually a speech years ago about the loaners in MMOs (like 2008), some people like to be around people, but don't have time for the commitments that some MMOs require, even though MMOs are their preferred style of game. People are sociable, but some are more than others, and some don't necessarily want to be forced to play with other people. The mercenary/hero system in Guild Wars provided that to people who liked to play the game their way without having to conform to what the other players want or just want to play because they enjoy the story or just want to play it alone. At the time, this percentage in MMOs was actually higher than what one may think. If I recall, based on the surveys it was like 15% (15% of millions of players is a lot of people). Having bots would give those people the option to play through something alone as well as the option to play with other people at certain times.
To your first point, fair, and true. That's literally the state of GW2, the harder the content, the less things that work. If you don't use something that works, other team members have to pick up the slack, and that sucks for them and for you if you want to try something different.
I don't think the bot has to be powerful, the bot needs to be commanded and told what to do. Players would need to have that ability to control them and equip them with gear. The botscan be given a targeting system, defensive functions, and offensive functions, and players would need access to their skill bars and trait lines.
I don't think bots will have the ability to be better than skilled players who are hardcore pvers or raiders simply because those players focus on it. The heroes/mercenaries would likely be useless at some point in instanced content because they wouldn't have the expertise that players do n certain content such as T4 fractals and raids.But, they could provide a unique balance to pve content for those players who are more casual. However, for hardcore content that requires the best out of a player, a bot at this time can't compensate and I'm not advocating for them to do so, simply because that would undermine the raiding and pve community as whole, which is not something I would want. Could it be possible? Maybe, but that's a lot of factors for a player to command in the middle of content.
I draw the line in content that is already very difficult. From an objective viewpoint, high tier fractals, harder raids, harder strikes, and things that are traditionally niche for players in the community, is where the line is drawn. It's the obvious line so that it doesn't circumvent those communities as a whole.
Obviously, the minimum skill level to play this game varies. Check out Boot's bad build videos on youtube. The answer to your question is the skill levelvariesdepending on the profession you play. Thus, I'm advocating for story instances, living world, dungeons, and other non-niche content.
If raids or strikes are included in that content, then I'm okay with it.Theoreticallyif someone wants to use heroes/mercs in a T4 fractal to play, thenyou should let them, but I doubt the bots could replace players in such niched content. Especially if they have enough legendary and ascended gear to do it, otherwise, players will still likely group together. And if people think it's stupid to allow that because it will never work, I'm a firm believer in stupid should be punished, so let people play the game how they want to, even if it means they are failing the content. If they figure out how to succeed, then good for them, but that sounds incredibly tedious with all the dodging and one hit kills the party would face.
Mind you, I'm a hardcore pvper, and casual pver. I'm someone who can work with random players in forced play together content, while still beinga casual just want to get the story done type of player. Thus, I don't want to replace players in niche communities because I know when it sucks to be paired with bots in pvp that I can't fully command.
I don't mean to be reductionist but, here is what I am reading as devils advocate.
A player who doesn't have the skill, time or commitment to learning and playing their profession in a way that would provide the highest level of success, could haveaccess to a helper bot that requires the player learn something new to help them? Like, from a design perspective you are asking for a solution to the games complexity, and the solution is for more buttons to push to make the game easier. But, isn't that just moving the complexity of the game around? Why not ask for the professions to be easier to use in general?
As well, if you are giving players a crutch like a helperbot, and players learn how to use the helperbot to their advantage, use it with the most efficiency and best results, how will that player fair when they are in a position without the bot? They have to learn the game with and without the bot. Another potential increase in complexity. Another point of friction for players to work around.
