Guild Wars 2

Pat Cavit.9234:

We should be able to turn it on sometime after the next patch hits, IIRC.

Next patch meaning sometime next week (Tuesday)?

Lawton Campbell.8517:

rodadams.5963:

Pat Cavit.9234:

https://github.com/arenanet/api-cdi/pull/36

We should be able to turn it on sometime after the next patch hits, IIRC.

I presume we’ll get /v2/account/bank at the same time? The two pretty much go hand in hand, and I’d expect similar challenges with the two, but I’m not in your codebase.

Yeah, we’re hoping to turn on /v2/account/bank and /v2/account/materials around the same time, barring any catastrophes.

Excellent!
I’ve got some plans for that data.

Divine Don.9752:

Pat Cavit.9234:

We should be able to turn it on sometime after the next patch hits, IIRC.

Next patch meaning sometime next week (Tuesday)?

I believe he means that the next patch will get some changes into the backend, which will let him work on getting it out to us. I’d expect a week or two later, most likely.

I was wondering: Does some of the character data really needs to be hidden behind a key? I mean everyone in game can basically already see if someone is online, the equipment and stuff. It would be nice if you could query a name to get his/her build too. Why was it chosen to make this API behind a key if you can view most information in game without their permission as well? Sorry if I missed something! I believe that making this more public really would open more oppurtunities for sites

No. Just no. Yes, you can see if someone is online (unless invisible). But you cannot see their equipment or build. You can – if you manage to find that character in the world – see the SKINS one is wearing, but not the actual items.

Unlike in a certain competing game you cannot right-click “inspect” characters. GW2 does not have its own armory. And this is something I like.

Please Anet, don’t make GearScore a thing in GW2! EVER!

If anything the API needs MORE fine grained permissions rather than less.

So quick question for the devs, I was messing with the API earlier after I had left a guild, and I noticed that my characters are still shown as representing that guild, even though it no longer shows up in /v2/account. Is this intentional or a bug?

Killerassel.2197:

No. Just no. Yes, you can see if someone is online (unless invisible). But you cannot see their equipment or build. You can – if you manage to find that character in the world – see the SKINS one is wearing, but not the actual items.

Unlike in a certain competing game you cannot right-click “inspect” characters. GW2 does not have its own armory. And this is something I like.

Please Anet, don’t make GearScore a thing in GW2! EVER!

If anything the API needs MORE fine grained permissions rather than less.

I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t want people to not see your build? It is not that private right? I can imagine you don’t want your inventory or bank to be shown. But what is wrong with making builds public?

I think there are many possibilities if you would make the API public (in sense that you can query the (sPvP) builds of other people). If you would limit it only to your own character, I don’t think there would be many reasons to not just log in on GW2 itself and check their info. Maybe you can provide me with some cool idea’s that could be implemented right now with /v2/characters/ being private, and some reasons why your build should be private to other players to convince me?

The build itself (i.e. selection of traits), especially after the upcoming patch, would probably not be that problematic. But I foresee the meta zerker elite kittens in LFG tool will start with gear checks before running even the simplest dungeon. As long as they need to ask for an API key I can just laught at them and leave. If everyone can always check everyone else I am afraid mandatory gear checks will become commonplace.

I’ve played WoW and have seen how the community became after the rise of GearScore (and similar addons). I do not want to see this happening in GW2, too. Many LFG tool listings already look discouraging. I don’t want to see support for this behaviour by granting access to data.

This is pretty much along the same line why I don’t want to see damage meters in GW2. That is another topic, but many of the reasons against them apply here too.

As for what you can do when the API is private: almost everything you can do if it was public. As long as each player agrees and voluntarily gives you a key to access his or her data. You can still pull up a GW2 equivalent of the WoW armory, but only list players agreeing to the service. You just can’t spy on or stalk people, who don’t opt-in.

You seem to be thinking about SPvP builds, though. I see those a bit less strict, as they can already be inspected by spectators in game and I haven’t seen the PvP players as elitist about builds as the PvE’ers and PvP gear is a non-issue anyway.

Also remember that API access can be easily automated. You can track my online times manually via the friend list, but this is quite cumbersome. A service that tracks online times of every player would just be spooky.

Killerassel.2197:

The build itself (i.e. selection of traits), especially after the upcoming patch, would probably not be that problematic. But I foresee the meta zerker elite kittens in LFG tool will start with gear checks before running even the simplest dungeon. As long as they need to ask for an API key I can just laught at them and leave. If everyone can always check everyone else I am afraid mandatory gear checks will become commonplace.

I’ve played WoW and have seen how the community became after the rise of GearScore (and similar addons). I do not want to see this happening in GW2, too. Many LFG tool listings already look discouraging. I don’t want to see support for this behaviour by granting access to data.

This is pretty much along the same line why I don’t want to see damage meters in GW2. That is another topic, but many of the reasons against them apply here too.

As for what you can do when the API is private: almost everything you can do if it was public. As long as each player agrees and voluntarily gives you a key to access his or her data. You can still pull up a GW2 equivalent of the WoW armory, but only list players agreeing to the service. You just can’t spy on or stalk people, who don’t opt-in.

You seem to be thinking about SPvP builds, though. I see those a bit less strict, as they can already be inspected by spectators in game and I haven’t seen the PvP players as elitist about builds as the PvE’ers and PvP gear is a non-issue anyway.

Also remember that API access can be easily automated. You can track my online times manually via the friend list, but this is quite cumbersome. A service that tracks online times of every player would just be spooky.

I think you provide a few good reasons! I don’t play Dungeons myself, but I have heard a few people complain about players being aggressive on gear or professions you run. (Of course I don’t agree with this behaviour) Even though this can happen, I personally think it’s better that you get told upfront that they rather want another profession or other gear (you don’t want to stick which such a group anyway:P) then that they are raging about it during or after the dungeon path. Aside that, there would be no need to ask for the key, since the player could already easily link his/her armor them in the chat. (I think most players wouldn’t know about the keys)

But as you already noticed, I was aiming more for sPvP. It would be nice if you could check the builds enemies characters run while you’re waiting before the match, so you can discuss strategy a bit more. Or to see how successful people have been with certain builds for the past matches. I think cool things could be realized this way.

Maybe it is an option to split the sPvP build and the PvE build such that we don’t have the dungeon problems? But I guess this will be a bit of a hassle to maintain. So I still voting for builds to be publicly available without key. Of course I do believe that the online stat shouldn’t be shown to everyone.

Maybe it is a good idea to provide an authorized friendlist API where players can see who is online? I am not sure if it is possible to also chat with friend using the API? That would be really amazing, but it might be tough to implement.

Thanks for sharing your view!

EDIT: I just looked up the Damage Meter, and I really agree that would be a bad idea. I hope the community will take care of the armor checks though. Overall if most people think the same way about just enjoying the game with people then it should be alright I hope.