Guild Wars 2

StarbornStriker.6493:

[SNIP]
I understand that you want to create a living breathing world. What writer, what creator, doesn’t? BUT, you’re trying to create that world within a game, which people have to schedule time for around their real lives (not the opposite way). I hate to say it, but I feel punished for having to make a major life-changing move because there’s no way for me to catch up on the story I missed.

I agree with you so much it hurts, StarbornStriker. Which leads me to my main point, which is — since we are discussing the prioritizing of topics — that the pace, story, quality, temporary nature, and even the underlying philosophy of Living Story needs to be openly discussed, with responses by the dev team. I really feel that they are completely out of touch with how many of us feel about it and I really need them to listen and respond to our concerns.

This is absolutely my top priority, since it is the thing that is keeping me from logging in to the game.

After that, I think our sole focus should be discussing ways to add more types of currencies into the game, because there are simply not enough of them.

I kid, I kid!!! ;-)

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Valanga.5942:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

2: Chris to write the rules of engagement (-: Just laying out what we can and can’t talk about.

Why i got the feeling that this will end in a boatload of “we are working on it”, “we want to do that” and “nothing is off the table”?

That’s the spirit!

Chris

A new regular ANet PR quote Chris?

Chris Whiteside.6102:

DoctorOverlord.8620:

I just came across this post and I find this an interesting direction for ArenaNet to be taking. I hope they can find a way to work out this approach to communicating with the community. I’ve always been struck by the balance game developers need to manage between listening to the often contradictory community and presenting the game design envisioned by the company.

On the subject of prioritizing topics polls seem like a good way to determine which topics shoudl get the highest priority as well as finding the real topics of interest of the GW2 community rather than just the ones that occupy the attention of forum-posters.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

\
So to start with what i am suggesting we do is that we have a list of topics for each category, so for example:

PVE
1:Ascended Gear
2:Raiding
3: RNG
4: Roleplaying

For global issues such as bugs, balance etc we can open up more threads but lets just start with 3. Note my list above is just an example. So what i am asking you guys and gals to think about is how do you want to go about choosing the list for WvW, PVE, and PVP

Chris

Would a topic on the UI need a place? I was thinking about subjects like build-loading or ability bar schemes that might be of interest.

Good point. We could discuss global topics such as bugs and UI on separate threads once we get our collaborative process down after we have tried 1 round of PVE, WvW and PVP threads?

Chris

Is there a team working on content like new dragons and large new areas (keep them secret if you want)/etc, or is the team concentrating on the ever progressing story line presented via the living story? I think some clarity regarding the vision here would be appreciated. (and might help direct some discussion topics)

PVE
-Tyria
What is needed?
Elite Dungeons or Areas:
————Bringing back UW via Living Story
————Bringing back Fow via Living Story
————Making new areas for the other god statues in TOA (GW1)

Even if the above means re-vamping the quests in the old game and making equivalent dynamic events.

Another epic idea: Create an area called Temple of Ages
That will only be accessible if ALL temples on the server are uncontested.
Then have shrines within each area that allow the passage to the above. =D

I think we have enough currencies, perhaps too much currencies… that’s not a bad thing, I don’t think adding currencies would hurt the game but I don’t think it will improve it either.

Are there going to be devs for each profession that frequently visit the profession forums so that those players may collaborate with them to hopefully make their professions more enjoyable? :3

Please….?

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Tomorrow I am meeting with the team to go over the plan for the Topic threads in WvW, PvP and PVE which i will follow up with everyone about after the meeting.

Meanwhile we are still discussing how to prioritise the topics of the 3 threads here.

Chris

Yay. Keep it up!

I liked your list. Personally I think the first 3 topics you listed would be awesome to have up for discussion: Ascended gear, raiding and RNG.

Roleplaying I have no opinion about, but I am certain this is important for someone else

EDIT: Because English > me.

ZilentNight.5089:

PVE
-Tyria
What is needed?
Elite Dungeons or Areas:
————Bringing back UW via Living Story
————Bringing back Fow via Living Story
————Making new areas for the other god statues in TOA (GW1)

Even if the above means re-vamping the quests in the old game and making equivalent dynamic events.

Another epic idea: Create an area called Temple of Ages
That will only be accessible if ALL temples on the server are uncontested.
Then have shrines within each area that allow the passage to the above. =D

That sounds great.
Underworld based living story reintroducing elite instance -UW.
Just reskin the old one and make each monster as strong as Liadri.

Speaking of currency:
If you’d be so kind Chris, what the heck are the laurels in-game? All the other currency has some basis in the world one way or the other. Where are those things coming from?

Is this nonsense about surveys/polls still going on? I’m sorry but this is a game, we are here to play, not to test your product. Every other mmo refused to use them for a reason, it ruins every bit of immersion and the downsides to a survey are greater than the gains due to the lazy nature of humans.

I think if you focus on balancing the classes, fixing all bugs and work towards permanent content you will achieve far more than surveys/polls can ever offer.

I remember seeing a couple of interviews with you Chris and a couple of other members of ArenaNet where you guys discussed your strives as a company towards the next challenge all the time. I am curious if this is the direction you are taking. Living Story being the last challenge you guys faced as a company; then “Collaborative Development” as the next one. It sounds very interesting to me and I really like where this is heading.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

And hence it being a question to provoke creative brainstorming. We don’t believe in any problem being unsolvable.

Would in game polls affect the immersion for the player?

Thanks for you feedback,

Chris

What about ‘polling booth’ NPCs in LA and maybe the various hub cities?

personally, I don’t even know if it could be a topic, but I would say my topic of choice:

generic rewards

I just don’t feel that rewarded when finding loot. Stuff is very generic. There are not a lot named items with a lore-background which drop of enemies which are related in any way. Furthermore I don’t like to buy ascended items like those cool named rings and amulets which have a lore connection with a currency, I want to find them where it would feel like it belongs.

For example: I’d like to find Gwen’s Necklace somewhere Gwen might have been. Like as a rare loot-item from a champion near Ebonhawke or from a Charr Seperatist champion.

Tokens/Karma etc. might be nice because you can choose the stuff you need, but it takes something out of the game too, imho.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

So to start with what i am suggesting we do is that we have a list of topics for each category, so for example:

PVE
1:Ascended Gear
2:Raiding
3: RNG
4: Roleplaying

For global issues such as bugs, balance etc we can open up more threads but lets just start with 3. Note my list above is just an example. So what i am asking you guys and gals to think about is how do you want to go about choosing the list for WvW, PVE, and PVP

Chris

In my oppinion, Conditiondamage cap and RNG are the most frustrating parts in PVE and should be adressed first.

Then raiding and Acsended Gear

RNG definitely needs work, there are no skill based rewards other than TM-W2 Storm Wizard skins basically.

My personal top three topics I’d like to see addressed:
1. Roleplaying – Expand the meaning of our starting choices. Like what the heck happened to my Charr’s father. Etc. Will my choice of zealousim come to haunt me in some form? That kindof thing.
2. Condition build viability in PvE – How to make condition builds a viable alternative for all classes
3. Ascended Gear – Tying it to the world in some meaningful manner (meaningful being more than JUST making it, or buying it.)

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

AntiGw.9367:

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

It would tell them what those doing them actually THINK of the content they just did

Safari.3021:

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

This is actually kindof brilliant.

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

It would tell them what those doing them actually THINK of the content they just did

How is that more useful than actual statistics?

AntiGw.9367:

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

It would tell them what those doing them actually THINK of the content they just did

How is that more useful than actual statistics?

ppl do stuff without enjoying it sometimes, or under the illusion of enjoyment.

AntiGw.9367:

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

It would tell them what those doing them actually THINK of the content they just did

How is that more useful than actual statistics?

I have done TA 10 times in the last week, I have NOT enjoyed it, but STATS show I have by doing it 10 times….
A poll AFTER would tell them that I HADN’T enjoyed it, but did it for Deadly Blossoms and achievements I felt I needed to do in case it was gated content

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Zacchary.6183:

Are there going to be devs for each profession that frequently visit the profession forums so that those players may collaborate with them to hopefully make their professions more enjoyable?

Please….?

Absolutely .I hope we can role this initiative out to all the separate forums and perhaps even create new forums with the intention being that specialist devs in each area will be attached to a particular forum on an ongoing basis (-:

Funny thing is… I thought this was the case already. I actually feel weird every time I post something in the suggestions forum without having any reply from a developer in months(?) (the "latest one here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Game-Improvement-Suggestions/page/33). Is it because no one of the devs feel responsible for the suggestions forum? It would be nice to see replies from anyone responsible to get the direction you want to go with certain issues.

I appreciate this new discussion approach.

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

It would tell them what those doing them actually THINK of the content they just did

How is that more useful than actual statistics?

I have done TA 10 times in the last week, I have NOT enjoyed it, but STATS show I have by doing it 10 times….
A poll AFTER would tell them that I HADN’T enjoyed it, but did it for Deadly Blossoms and achievements I felt I needed to do in case it was gated content

Stats don’t show anything, the analysis of the stats does. What you describe is a flawed analysis.

A poll assumes that people answering it actually know what they are doing. The problem is that most people don’t. These forums are covering most of any usable feedback the playerbase can provide, and even then you see how full of crap it gets all the time.

Safari.3021:

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

haha this makes ingame polls actually immersive, nice idea Only problem I can think of: how do you make the connection between the things you want to ask about (a specific event etc.) and the dialogue?

If your team really reads the forum every day then you already know that we don’t want to gamble with our money. Since the beginning of GW2, this is one of the things that come back regularly. DON’T PUT RNG IN YOUR GEMSTORE.

RNG in-game is OK. It doesn’t belong in the gemstore.

AntiGw.9367:

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

Lonesamurai.4852:

AntiGw.9367:

I don’t see how polls could give you more information than participation, activity and click statistics.

It would tell them what those doing them actually THINK of the content they just did

How is that more useful than actual statistics?

I have done TA 10 times in the last week, I have NOT enjoyed it, but STATS show I have by doing it 10 times….
A poll AFTER would tell them that I HADN’T enjoyed it, but did it for Deadly Blossoms and achievements I felt I needed to do in case it was gated content

Stats don’t show anything, the analysis of the stats does. What you describe is a flawed analysis.

A poll assumes that people answering it actually know what they are doing. The problem is that most people don’t. These forums are covering most of any usable feedback the playerbase can provide, and even then you see how full of crap it gets all the time.

Is there a reason it’s an either/or option for you?

Usage statistics are valuable, but they’re after the fact. Opinion polls and market research are before the fact and can be used to drive development in a direction the playerbase actually wants.

Virtually every major industry on the planet uses market research to drive their product development, there’s no reason MMORPG development wouldn’t benefit as well.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Safari.3021:

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

haha this makes ingame polls actually immersive, nice idea Only problem I can think of: how do you make the connection between the things you want to ask about (a specific event etc.) and the dialogue?

What are your guys’ thoughts on the mockups I did on page 15?

Lord Rheios.4152:

Safari.3021:

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

This is actually kindof brilliant.

It really, really is. I love it.

Good Morning Chris,

It may be worth creating a separate thread (for each game mode) for people simply to list (no discussion) what they think are the issues atm or the aspects of the game they would appreciate develper feedback on. This one is all over the place.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Safari.3021:

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

haha this makes ingame polls actually immersive, nice idea Only problem I can think of: how do you make the connection between the things you want to ask about (a specific event etc.) and the dialogue?

NPC: “Grab a seat, I’ll pull up a drink for you. Heard news at the Splintered Coast is pretty bad. One of the Dragon’s lieutenants seems to be getting stronger”

Player: “Yep, you wouldn’t catch me there” [didn’t participate] / “I was actually there in the fight” [participated].

NPC [if participated]: “Really?! I bet it was a close fight.”

Player: “Psh. A walk in the park for someone like me” [easy] / “Well, it was a sight more difficult than the usual fights I get into” [medium] / “You have no idea. Bodies. Bodies everywhere” [hard].

NPC: “Really…Fancy talking about it?”

Player: “Sure” [brings up a text box] / “Not really, it’d probably bore you” [if answer was easy] / “I’m trying to forget it, why do you think I’m here?” [hard]

NPC: “Truly a thrilling tale” [text box filled] / “No problem, I understand” [text box not filled]

NPC: “Here you go. This drink is on the house.”

Or something along those lines.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Safari.3021:

In game Polls:

Barmen.

You talk to a barman in a tavern, they chat yto you, ask you questions, you give your responses.

Anet get their poll.
Player recieves tankard of ale for their time.

Encourage participation by making “visit tavern for a drink” a daily achievement when a poll is needed

haha this makes ingame polls actually immersive, nice idea Only problem I can think of: how do you make the connection between the things you want to ask about (a specific event etc.) and the dialogue?

Edit – my bad, missed the bit about the achievement to draw them to the bar. The rest still stands though. I don’t think immersion is as important as making sure the polls are as widely available as possible.

The other problem is how do you get the players to the bar? Outside of the roleplayers I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone ever enter a bar in-game.

A polling option that is completely immersive and rarely used is a waste of time.

A poll about the direction of the game is non-immersive on the face of it. You are asking people about their personal opinion on game development issues. Trying to dress it up is (IMO) adding unnecessary complication and barriers to entry that shouldn’t be there.

You need a poll option to be obvious and available to every player in the game. A blatantly obvious UI option (as was mocked up earlier in the thread) or a polling function in the launcher itself are the best options available.

I’ve spent thousands of hours (and lots of money -_-) in this game, playing from scratch with 9 chars (8 leveled up to 8, decked out in end-game gear); playing across all modes of the game; helping to Command our server out of the original Glicko Ghetto (forever ago), while helping to run and lead an averaged sized social guild that crosses playerbases from niche players to casual to hardcore.

From what I have seen personally, and from our guildies these are topics in need of discussion for each section:

General:
1. Guilds (General)
a) Guild Message/TOTD is hardly visible. Some way to make that more interactive (display on sign in or something?) would be amazing.
b) Guild Content is nearly nonexistant, all attempts so far have just been stop-gaps. Guild Missions were a great idea, but lacked sustainability (especially once maxed on merits).
c) Guild Halls/Housing would be a great way for our members to interact with each other in game when just socializing (which happens a lot for us).
d) Guild Event Organization such as a Guild Calendar or something in that vein.
e) Guild Limits are an issue for some guilds. (Both how many can be in one guild -500- and how many guilds you can be in -5-)
f) Guild Alliances! In a game that has WvW, World Bosses, and Guild Missions that can require large numbers of people how is this not already in the game? It would make organizing for the co-ordinated events so much easier.

2. Guilds (Leader/Officer perspective)
a) Guild Member Stats and Information – Beyond needing ways to track active guildies, better ways to keep tabs on alts, add notes and help get everyone involved would be great.
b) Quality of Life Management improvements that help from member management to better structured guild buffs functionality.
c) Something to do with our excess guild merits that doesn’t require us to use additional time/influence we are already using for current buffs. (We’re capped and they are pretty much useless)

3. Chat Functionality
a) Add in the ability to copy/paste, etc. basic chat stuff.
b) Create custom Chat Rooms with ownership and moderation.

PvE:
1. Hard Mode content to keep our hardcore players engaged within the guild, so it helps sustain the casuals/infrequenters.
2. Real Balance content – Ways to make it so zerker is not required for optimal efficiency. Make support/control/sturdier builds more necessary.
3. Permanent Content – temporary content with Living Story killed off interest for a lot of people, especially those that got behind and felt left out.
4. Raidlike Content – Something larger than 5man parties, but doesn’t require entire server organization. Difficult so that it takes weeks/etc of failing to work on something to understand and get better at it.
5. More Minigame/Offhand content to do when you are bored/disinterested in end-game farming or doing instances. (i.e. Polymock!, Southsun Survival, etc)
6. Better structured core game lore content. Living Story, strayed from most of the content people were curious about after the Personal Story stuff (i.e. bosses, dragons, ancient lore, stuff of epic nature, etc)

WvW:
1. World Experience and Alts have a hostile relationship right now. Improve that so people who play multiple characters aren’t inferior to those who only focus on one. (Account Bound WXP would be the way to go imo)
2. Small-man group play. Bloodlust was a great motivator for it, more map design and small goals with incentive.
3. Seperate Coordinated Large Group Content (currently called GvG’s) from WvW.
4. Fix Commander system. Squads have very negligible functionality right now. And there are better ways to portray different commanders on maps (Guild Commanders, Colored tag Commaders, etc).
5. Add more PvE Breakout type trigger events for dynamics events going on. Great idea, paltry follow through.
6. Give us much more incentive for defense.

sPvP:
1. More Game Modes – hands down, this biggest drawback.
2. Improve Custom Arenas – add holiday game modes, or something quirky and fun that doesn’t add glory/ranking that Guilds can do for fun. Also the custom-ability could be added to as well.
3. Adding in other missing stat types and runes, and balancing. More builds = more viability.
4. More focus so it draws people into the esports scene to help get a following.

I don’t often post suggestions in forums because of the toxic atmosphere, but with your interaction hopefully you get time to read through some of them and they get discussion flowing.

Thanks in advance.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

haha this makes ingame polls actually immersive, nice idea Only problem I can think of: how do you make the connection between the things you want to ask about (a specific event etc.) and the dialogue?

What are your guys’ thoughts on the mockups I did on page 15?

I think the idea is great, I love the little icon on top, and even it’s not as immersive as the bar-idea I like it way better. It’s quite inconvenient to go to a bar every time you want to give feedback, even if it would feel great that we lore-fans get a bit of immersion.

The idea to make it part of an achievement to go to the bar sounds good on first sight to me, but on second thought it would be quite bland, like having to go to the laurel vendor. Not so interesting if you “have to” do it.

Your idea… I think it could also use some filters. Maybe I don’t want to get the pop up /change in color every time. I don’t want to get spammed. The player should be able to clarify on which topic he wants to give feedback, and maybe how frequently.

if you think the polls would somehow interfere with the suspension of disbelief (I won’t even discuss how many other things already presents in the game do so, it would be off topic tho) just make them a part of the game and encourage -without “forcing”- the partecipation.
I will use WvW as example ‘cause that’s my main (I’d say only) interest: add a daily “report to Commander Siegerazer”. It will only contribute to the daily the first time you do it every 24h, but it will keep track of all submissions for the activity (I may play one hour in the morning, then play 2 hours in the afternoon, and every time have something to say which can contribute to the overall ingame view of the game experience through the eyes of that particular character).
Of course, it’s very important to be able to gather data from each player that plays with different characters: what may look easy for those who mains a certain class, might prove an hard task for someone with the same class as alt, ‘tho in order to find a compromise that can set peace for both the sides (let’s call it “balance”), both opinions need to be heard.
Is there any chance that the poll threads that you planned for WvW/PvE/PvP board macro-areas will appear also in each class section? I believe that listening specifically to the opinion of players class by class is even more accurate than the “area” in which they play, because in order to play you must first choose a class.

I really hope we can revisit some topics that appear to have been “closed off”, such as account bound WXP in WvWvW too. More than that I’d really like to think we can start with a clean slate on each topic rather than the entrenched positions some people have taken (and I mean that on both the player and dev sides).

For WvWvW topics I’d like to see:

1. Population and matchups (specifically alliances)
2. WvW rewards
3. Power creep
4. Account bound WXP
5. New maps
6. The commander system
7. Making both small team and large team worthwhile (aka less zerging)

Some of these items have already been mentioned by Devon in his Q&A this week but in an ideal world I’d like to see Devon be able to come to the suits with a well thought out plan and demand the resources to make it happen. In return we will all promise to buy more gems.

I can but dream…

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Zacchary.6183:

Are there going to be devs for each profession that frequently visit the profession forums so that those players may collaborate with them to hopefully make their professions more enjoyable?

Please….?

Absolutely .I hope we can role this initiative out to all the separate forums and perhaps even create new forums with the intention being that specialist devs in each area will be attached to a particular forum on an ongoing basis (-:

The initial plan is essentially a test to see how the process works, which we will evolve based on discussion with each other.

Hope that makes sense? I am in between meetings and running around (-:

I love the pic by the way. Dogs Rock!

Chris

W00!!!!

pulsecodesgnl.3470:

From what I have seen personally, and from our guildies these are topics in need of discussion for each section:

General:
1. Guilds (General)
a) Guild
b) Guild Content is nearly nonexistant, all attempts so far have just been stop-gaps. Guild Missions were a great idea, but lacked sustainability (especially once maxed on merits).
c) Guild
d) Guild
e) Guild
f) Guild

2. Guilds
-snip-

Oh god no, please not more guild stuff. I hate that there is content which is doable for guilds only. Yeah, I can participate in a certain way, but won’t get the rewards.

I got away from games like WoW because I wanted to get away from this heavy organized playing on a schedule. No to large instanced group content, the open world direction is so much more fun to me than having to find a whole group of players who have the exact same timetable as I and actually the morale to stay a couple of hours in the game, just to complete content. I’m a family man now and can’t do this anymore. GW2 shouldn’t change it’s direction 180 now. Don’t make GW2 another Raid-game, there are enough others there already.

Tequatl was an awesome first step, there certainly are problems but I feel this is the direction that works for GW2.

I really wonder how many GW2 players are part of a larger guild because they want to, and not because they can only complete certain content that way for the rewards.

TheDaiBish.9735:

snip

I like the idea of RP the thing, but at the same time I believe that it would be better if taken in a classic manner, mainly because players need to understand clearly what they are facing.
Metaphors, roundabout expression, all these things can be quite misleading, even in a traditional form a survey can be misleading, so I’m for a standard format.
But I lolled

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Oh god no, please not more guild stuff. I hate that there is content which is doable for guilds only. Yeah, I can participate in a certain way, but won’t get the rewards.

I got away from games like WoW because I wanted to get away from this heavy organized playing on a schedule. No to large instanced group content, the open world direction is so much more fun to me than having to find a whole group of players who have the exact same timetable as I and actually the morale to stay a couple of hours in the game, just to complete content. I’m a family man now and can’t do this anymore. GW2 shouldn’t change it’s direction 180 now. Don’t make GW2 another Raid-game, there are enough others there already.

Tequatl was an awesome first step, there certainly are problems but I feel this is the direction that works for GW2.

I really wonder how many GW2 players are part of a larger guild because they want to, and not because they can only complete certain content that way for the rewards.

Yeah god forbid there’s different ways to play the game. Especially in an MMO where players are a resource, and Guilds already exist. Just because you don’t want it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be considered or added. I didn’t care for Living Story, but I still enjoy other parts of the game, does that mean I think it should go away? No.

Don’t be intolerant to placate to only your priorities. You don’t have to do everything in the game that everyone else does.

Erick Alastor.3917:

TheDaiBish.9735:

snip

I like the idea of RP the thing, but at the same time I believe that it would be better if taken in a classic manner, mainly because players need to understand clearly what they are facing.
Metaphors, roundabout expression, all these things can be quite misleading, even in a traditional form a survey can be misleading, so I’m for a standard format.
But I lolled

Yeah. I just had the urge for a bit of creativity lol.

Convenience should also be taken into consideration, since players are more likely to be inclined to fill a survey out if they don’t have to go out of their way to do it.

Chris, I’ll state this under a flag of truce, as I’m considered a troll by many.
I do not feel the need to explain my emotions/outbursts/commentary, because I am not going to research all my own posts and write a book on why I feel as I do. I think overall it should be obvious to most that I am primarily unhappy about two things. Primarily the monetization of the game, secondly, the crafting process (from gathering to finished product).

For now though, I will set aside my opinions of the Arenanet staff, and take your words at face value, giving you the benefit of the doubt.

If you asked me what I want out of GW2, and if you gave me just one thing to choose out of the many I could come up with. What one thing would I change?

I’d like to play GW2 and not feel like I was in a rat maze where every dead end was the gem store.
I want to log in and play the game, and not feel like I’m constantly under the shadow of ulterior motives to drive me to spend RL money. I’ve spent plenty of money on vanity items and perma-gathering tools, etc. But (I can hear them now, Vayne and everyone are going “oh god, here he goes again”), when I step out of Lion’s Arch to focus on crafting something, I want to move towards it with confidence. Confidence that I can gather those materials I need, that I can seek out their sources and if necessary farm those sources until I have what I need. I don’t want to feel like getting 250 Armored Scales is impossible compared to farming gold to buy them. In the long run, that is what I wound up doing. I farmed scarlet invasions and before that the Crown Pavillion until I had 300gold with which I simply bought the remaining T6 mats that I needed for my legendary gifts, simply because it is unrealistic to play casually and gather 250 of each material the traditional way. I’d like to gather the materials without feeling like I’m taxed 15% to do so. I’d like to adventure my way to a legendary. Not buy my way. Not gamble my way. I’m probably the only person on Yak’s Bend that thinks Ascended Weapons crafting is the best thing to happen to crafting ever in this game. You can gather materials reliably, without Diminishing Returns limiting you. If I want to take my characters and run through all the zones in the game 8 times to gather all the soft wood logs that I can get, I can do that.
The time gating is perfect, because it regulates the overal time it takes to get a weapon, but it’s set. There is no mystical number attached to it that says I can’t make them at normal pace because I’ve made to many recently. I can sit down, open an excell spreadsheet, plug in numbers, and know exactly what I have to do and how long it will take. It’s a set path, and unlike Legendaries, there is very little gimmicky RNG stuff involved with it. I’m not even to 500 yet on my first profession (because T6 mats are hard to get, thus I am not crafting exotics very fast), but I feel like I am progressing as I see the Empyrial stars piling up, and the Bloodstone Bricks, and so on.
With Legendary crafting, it took me several months to get a couple of the main components, and I really really enjoyed it, because the parts I was working on involved world completion, and other aspects of the game that I’d not tried. I still don’t like PvP and WvW, but I did it. that Gift of Battle is a major milestone for me.
But then I got to the Gift of Fortune. Suddenly I found my locations limited for options, most of them chained by diminishing returns. I saw my normal playstyle bringing in approximately two T6 material items per hour, sometimes 4 if I was lucky. For a casual player such as myself, finishing my legendary suddenly stretched out to a years worth of time if I didn’t start farming specifically for gold to buy materials.
Which brings us back to gold. So much of the game seems focused on getting players to obtain gold one way or another, with the gem-store looming in the background like a steroids dealer in the shadows beckoning to the dejected athlete that just wants to finish a race.

I know this rambles, and may not get read, but it is here. If I whittle all my wishes down to just one thing, I want to feel like the gem-store is a place I go to because I want to look better or buy neat things. Not like it’s hiding around every corner trying to convince me that if I just take a pill, my life will be better.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

haha this makes ingame polls actually immersive, nice idea Only problem I can think of: how do you make the connection between the things you want to ask about (a specific event etc.) and the dialogue?

What are your guys’ thoughts on the mockups I did on page 15?

I think the idea is great, I love the little icon on top, and even it’s not as immersive as the bar-idea I like it way better. It’s quite inconvenient to go to a bar every time you want to give feedback, even if it would feel great that we lore-fans get a bit of immersion.

The idea to make it part of an achievement to go to the bar sounds good on first sight to me, but on second thought it would be quite bland, like having to go to the laurel vendor. Not so interesting if you “have to” do it.

Your idea… I think it could also use some filters. Maybe I don’t want to get the pop up /change in color every time. I don’t want to get spammed. The player should be able to clarify on which topic he wants to give feedback, and maybe how frequently.

Cool, thanks.

If it were I designing the survey questions, they would be only used in places that really made sense. For example, I don’t think we really need surveys every time we beat a champ with the same mechanics as say the ones in Queensdale.

However, the first time you fight say, Jormag, then it would make sense to have the icon change.

The nice thing about the idea (proposed a few pages back by Erick-Alastor), is that it is fairly unobtrusive. Like the the BLTC, or the skills icon, it doesn’t really get in your way while you play. While a bird could be used to draw attention to it, even that isn’t really needed, as long as the icon changes it should be enough to prompt the player.

Like the other icons however, the only issue is that if there is an active alert already, the player may miss a new one. For me personally, that’s a small price to pay to keep it out of the players face (aka, no popups).

You’re right though, getting spammed is a concern, but I think that if ANet were to confine the surveys to important events and major disussion topics, the “disruption” would be minimal. As well, as the players start completing surveys, the frequency would come less and less (you don’t need a survey every time you fight The Maw).