Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, just wanted to say that I’m a big fan of SAB currently. Keep up to great work creating these awesome experiences!

However, I have noticed a sharp decline in the amount of players going into SAB. I may get some from flak for saying this, however I believe there is a relatively simple way to fix this: increase the rewards. Before anyone throws a brick at me, hear me out please. Back in April, it felt that you were actually getting rewarded for playing SAB. Whether trying to acquire unique skins or trying to get some Obsidian Shards for a Legendary, it never felt like you were wasting time because in the end, you were playing for something you wanted and had a tangible goal to work towards. Now, the rewards in the second release seem kinda…ok, they appear to be terrible in comparison. You can buy some new skins, sure. But what else is there if you don’t like them or already have the ones you want? A mini? Continue coins for TM runners? There doesn’t appear to be any reason to play this content except if you like a specific skin, while in the April release there were reasons for a multitude of people to play the box over and over again.

As an example, you (Anet) know a lot of players are trying to create Ascended weapons currently, and a lot of them are still going after Legendaries as well. You also noted that the market, due to these Ascended changes, may become unstable for a bit as more items are needed then there are supply. Why not fix two problems with one board? Add some T6/possibly T7 mats and other important crafting items to the reward table. All of a sudden, players have an option. Do they want to farm Orr/jumping puzzles/dungeons where the drops are random or do they want to play in an area where they can feel like they are making REAL progress towards a goal they have. Also, say you don’t want to have all these T6 materials available at once because you are afraid of what might happen to the economy? Why not have only 2 or 3 available on a given day? Say Day 1 you have Bones, Bloods, and Dusts as the mats. Day 2, Bones are still available, however now there are Totems and Ectos in the rewards table instead. Some may argue outright buying Ectos shouldn’t exist, so you could add item drop boxes like in Crown Pavillion so people could open random rares/exotics and convert them into Ectos instead, or possibly even open that precursor they have been hoping for (I’m not saying have a “random precursor box” prize, just a random box like opening a chest with a chance at one). Also, you could do limited time rewards to draw people in and help bring down the prices of some materials in one fell swoop. Say that Moto has a 1 hour “fire sale” special where he is selling Charged Lodestones, 3 for 1 like O. Shards. All of a sudden, you have an influx of players who either want to make gold off the Lodestones or need them for crafting purposes. The 1 hour time limit will allow more to enter the economy, but not at an extreme rate. People who need them will be able to acquire them easier for a short time, and then when SAB leaves, the market will return to normal.

Again, the above is just a suggestion, however I feel it would be a great idea with the recent additions to the game. If anybody else has suggestions, or criticisms of my idea, please feel free to add! I’d love to see some ideas that could get large amounts of people back into SAB!

Having Moto sell Empyreal Shards would make sense.

Do you think that he should just sell those, or the other mats as well?

Keep in mind people are also back in school….like actual school.

I also strongly feel that people are burnt out on the “Living Story” and after they used guides to get through the SAB, they saw it as a nice opportunity to take a break.

That said, I agree with you. The way to encourage players back into the SAB is to not limit their ability to play it. Sure, people love the SAB, but they have to weigh the fun factor, with the need to grind in the rest of the game.

Allowing players to get the best of both worlds would go a long way. They WANT to play the SAB, but they need to walk away from 2-4 hours of gameplay with more than just a few Baubles that can’t be spent on anything other than a few weapons.

World 2 just put off a lot of people because of the spike in difficulty. Increasing the rewards is good for the hardcore players, but they already have Tribulation mode. It won’t get the regular players back in since the intimidation remains.

World 1 was good because it wasn’t too difficult to beat, but was still difficult for those who wanted every bauble and achievement.

Jeqevan.5729:

Hey guys, just wanted to say that I’m a big fan of SAB currently. Keep up to great work creating these awesome experiences!

However, I have noticed a sharp decline in the amount of players going into SAB. I may get some from flak for saying this, however I believe there is a relatively simple way to fix this: increase the rewards. Before anyone throws a brick at me, hear me out please. Back in April, it felt that you were actually getting rewarded for playing SAB. Whether trying to acquire unique skins or trying to get some Obsidian Shards for a Legendary, it never felt like you were wasting time because in the end, you were playing for something you wanted and had a tangible goal to work towards. Now, the rewards in the second release seem kinda…ok, they appear to be terrible in comparison. You can buy some new skins, sure. But what else is there if you don’t like them or already have the ones you want? A mini? Continue coins for TM runners? There doesn’t appear to be any reason to play this content except if you like a specific skin, while in the April release there were reasons for a multitude of people to play the box over and over again.

As an example, you (Anet) know a lot of players are trying to create Ascended weapons currently, and a lot of them are still going after Legendaries as well. You also noted that the market, due to these Ascended changes, may become unstable for a bit as more items are needed then there are supply. Why not fix two problems with one board? Add some T6/possibly T7 mats and other important crafting items to the reward table. All of a sudden, players have an option. Do they want to farm Orr/jumping puzzles/dungeons where the drops are random or do they want to play in an area where they can feel like they are making REAL progress towards a goal they have. Also, say you don’t want to have all these T6 materials available at once because you are afraid of what might happen to the economy? Why not have only 2 or 3 available on a given day? Say Day 1 you have Bones, Bloods, and Dusts as the mats. Day 2, Bones are still available, however now there are Totems and Ectos in the rewards table instead. Some may argue outright buying Ectos shouldn’t exist, so you could add item drop boxes like in Crown Pavillion so people could open random rares/exotics and convert them into Ectos instead, or possibly even open that precursor they have been hoping for (I’m not saying have a “random precursor box” prize, just a random box like opening a chest with a chance at one). Also, you could do limited time rewards to draw people in and help bring down the prices of some materials in one fell swoop. Say that Moto has a 1 hour “fire sale” special where he is selling Charged Lodestones, 3 for 1 like O. Shards. All of a sudden, you have an influx of players who either want to make gold off the Lodestones or need them for crafting purposes. The 1 hour time limit will allow more to enter the economy, but not at an extreme rate. People who need them will be able to acquire them easier for a short time, and then when SAB leaves, the market will return to normal.

Again, the above is just a suggestion, however I feel it would be a great idea with the recent additions to the game. If anybody else has suggestions, or criticisms of my idea, please feel free to add! I’d love to see some ideas that could get large amounts of people back into SAB!

I think that’s a wonderful idea. I have no idea about end-game content (my highest is only 40…) so I don’t know what it takes to craft them or even acquire them, but it sounds like your suggestion would give people a reason to play in the SAB. World 1 is still there, so if World 2 isn’t your fancy, just farm World 1. Boring and old news I know. There’s also Infantile Mode. You don’t get as many rewards for completing zones, but at least it’s easier and you do still get some baubles. +1 for your suggestion.

Thanks for the feedback guys! I thought the mats would be a good idea right now since that seems to be what a lot of people want/need. Does anyone have any other ideas for items they could add?

I go in every day. I finished the achievements for World 1, played through World 2 on infantile mode and now I go back to the first two zones of World 1 every day to dig and loot the chests (=farm). Two main reasons for it. First is that the chests drop tradeable skins which are worth a couple gold on the trading post. I’ve gotten three so far. Not a bad return on the time investment considering I only do the fast and easy routes. (Did King Toad on normal once for the achievement and never again.) Second is with how long it takes to get the bubbles, I want to have some stored up for when the box returns with new rewards.