Guild Wars 2

Oh well, took me a year to get my 5k chest since I don’t intentionally grind for points, but dang it was a nice chest. A mini, really? heh now I don’t mind so much that I deleted my first character slot and that being a frustratingly fail ranger class.

- Don’t get free gift: anet doesn’t care about their consumers since they get nothing for making a character a year ago (even if they spent no gems since then)
- Get free gift: Anet doesn’t care about their consumers because I didn’t get a totally rad gift that I definitely wanted. (And if I spent gems, then its never worth the amount of money I spent!)

Honestly, if I was anet seeing complaint posts about getting the free gift, I’d just no longer give them 2nd year+. Why should they if people are just going to come and make huge complaints about it? It’d be like if you got a present from a friend, and said “Really? I didn’t want THIS. You must HATE me!”

xephire.8324:

I prefer getting nothing……..as the gift was nothing in the first place or just to infuriate players…………

I think we’d all prefer you got nothing.

Those scrolls are kitten good buffs and I got a boatload of them. I’m buffed for weeks of my actual play time.

You focus on the mini, I focus on the extra magic find.

Enjoy your unhappiness.

Knote.2904:

treborIRL.4521:

its very bad to get free stuff, people complain when it doesn’t meet their standards, then QQ and talk about GW2 being dead to them and moving on to another game. lulz.

In that case, give me your address and I’ll go find a dead rat and mail it to you, as a gift.

It’s free.

Ah, but you forgot the cardinal rule: “Don’t feed the trolls!”

Vayne.8563:

xephire.8324:

I prefer getting nothing……..as the gift was nothing in the first place or just to infuriate players…………

I think we’d all prefer you got nothing.

Those scrolls are kitten good buffs and I got a boatload of them. I’m buffed for weeks of my actual play time.

You focus on the mini, I focus on the extra magic find.

Enjoy your unhappiness.

This ^ right here, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason Guild Wars 2 is going downhill. Anet dishes out bad content and ridiculous rewards, and players like Vayne accept and even agree with the content/rewards. Seriously, open your eyes and actually look at what the reward is for once. I felt more rewarded after I finished mario bros when I got absolutely nothing. At least Mario gave me fun in exchange for playing the game.

Coldin.2840:

Knote.2904:

Um…. it’s not about turning GW2 into GW1, it’s about taking a small THING from GW1 that was far superior to the relative THING in GW2.

In this case the anniversary gifts.

You did get an Anniversary gift. It just wasn’t the anniversary gift you wanted. Don’t look a gifthorse in the mouth.

It’s not an anniversary gift, it’s a birthday gift. A gift given to each character you have. Would you buy the same exact gift for all of your friends, or would you try to get them something unique to their personality that they would treasure? I’m not going to destroy my free birthday gift, I’m not going to hate ArenaNet for giving out identical minis to every character I make. I AM however going to feel like it’s a little cheap and easy rather than the excitement that I got from opening my GW1 birthday present and wondering what I’d get.

That’s not QQing, that’s not entitlement, that’s feedback for ArenaNet. Last I heard, they actually WANT that, m-kay?

Seven Star Stalker.1740:

I’ve kinda got a hunch that they kinda decided to do an uninformed experiment to see how the player base would feel about having this method of gifting.. I hope.

But yeah. I’m over it now, OP. ANet used to be cool. And to those who say, “Oh, be grateful blah blah blah” I’m sorry but when someone actually goes down in standard when they were higher up before, it is hard for an individual to be grateful if the quality has dropped.

It’s easy to say “Be Grateful” but the reality is, ANet fixed something that was anything but broken, and it is probably one of their best things.

Majority of what they do is an experiment. The cost of trying to break away from the norm and fix a broken genre. It’s a messy process though. Hopefully they’ll understand how boring this change is compared to GW1. :/

Galtrix.7369:

Vayne.8563:

xephire.8324:

I prefer getting nothing……..as the gift was nothing in the first place or just to infuriate players…………

I think we’d all prefer you got nothing.

Those scrolls are kitten good buffs and I got a boatload of them. I’m buffed for weeks of my actual play time.

You focus on the mini, I focus on the extra magic find.

Enjoy your unhappiness.

This ^ right here, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason Guild Wars 2 is going downhill. Anet dishes out bad content and ridiculous rewards, and players like Vayne accept and even agree with the content/rewards. Seriously, open your eyes and actually look at what the reward is for once. I felt more rewarded after I finished mario bros when I got absolutely nothing. At least Mario gave me fun in exchange for playing the game.

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

I do agree with you, however, in that I felt more rewarded when I beat Mario Bros. and got nothing. That’s because the reward for beating Mario Bros. was satisfaction at having beaten the game. The reward for your GW2 birthday is for nothing more than having a character exist for a year. You didn’t do anything to earn the birthday reward, so of course you’re going to feel better about having accomplished something! (Mario).

I’d be more suspect if this reward was for having done anything. Rather, the birthday present is rewarding the least possible “accomplishment:” existing. To receive the reward, the only thing you “accomplish” is logging in twice: once at character creation and once a year later. I wouldn’t care if they gave me 2 broken lockpicks as a gift since it’s a gift for almost literally doing nothing.

I would have preferred that the scrolls were Scrolls of Knowledge instead (they give a skill point instead of levelling you to 20), but I can’t really complain about the birthday gift. I AM wondering what to do with 10 Mini Jennah’s now though. I guess they can keep my Risen Priests of Balthazar company.

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Yeah I can’t comprehend why Jennah was the only miniature given out, they could have created an exclusive lineup of birthday miniatures based on the queens jubilee NPC’s. As for the other drops I loved the level 20 XP scroll as it reminded me of GW1 when the max level was 20. The boost given out was great too. I hope when 2nd birthday rolls around that Anet will offer varied miniatures than just one.

BilboBaggins.5620:

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Indeed, a random mini would certainly have been more interesting. Giving out so many duplicates does seem a little strange, and I’d be much more concerned if this were a reward for, well, anything. I’m just disheartened by the degree of anger I see.

And providing that feedback is perfectly fine and does not, like you said, necessarily indicate a sense of entitlement. I can’t help but start to think that way, however, when some are showing so much anger or disappointment over an unmet expectation that may not have been warranted since it was never promised or foreshadowed.

I think a nice compromise would be that while Mini Jennah is always given from the 1st Birthday Present, 4 of them can be forged to create 1 random Set 1 Miniature (which could be of any rarity).

Biohazard.4196:

Indeed, a random mini would certainly have been more interesting. Giving out so many duplicates does seem a little strange, and I’d be much more concerned if this were a reward for, well, anything. I’m just disheartened by the degree of anger I see.

And providing that feedback is perfectly fine and does not, like you said, necessarily indicate a sense of entitlement. I can’t help but start to think that way, however, when some are showing so much anger or disappointment over an unmet expectation that may not have been warranted since it was never promised or foreshadowed.

Oh, believe me, I wholeheartedly agree that feedback, both positive and negative, should be given in an intelligent, constructive manner. (and I sometimes fail at that myself, but I try)

Should’ve just been one gift for the whole account and made good.

Knote.2904:

Should’ve just been one gift for the whole account and made good.

Then make sure to call it an anniversary present instead of a birthday present. I prefer the extra scrolls and boosts this way, but I’d have no problem with a single account present, the 8 mini queens just seems silly.

you know what a great birthday gift is? a precursor. or an ascended weapon of your choice. not a minipet.

of course, this will never happen. coz you have to grind for it in a game that is supposed to be without grind.

At the reward level right now, maybe the original plan was account wide than per character.

alcopaul.2156:

you know what a great birthday gift is? a precursor. or an ascended weapon of your choice. not a minipet.

of course, this will never happen. coz you have to grind for it in a game that is supposed to be without grind.

A precursor or ascended weapon as a gift for successfully logging in twice, a year apart? Log in Wars 2?

Biohazard.4196:

alcopaul.2156:

you know what a great birthday gift is? a precursor. or an ascended weapon of your choice. not a minipet.

of course, this will never happen. coz you have to grind for it in a game that is supposed to be without grind.

A precursor or ascended weapon as a gift for successfully logging in twice, a year apart? Log in Wars 2?

socialism.

Galtrix.7369:

Vayne.8563:

xephire.8324:

I prefer getting nothing……..as the gift was nothing in the first place or just to infuriate players…………

I think we’d all prefer you got nothing.

Those scrolls are kitten good buffs and I got a boatload of them. I’m buffed for weeks of my actual play time.

You focus on the mini, I focus on the extra magic find.

Enjoy your unhappiness.

This ^ right here, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason Guild Wars 2 is going downhill. Anet dishes out bad content and ridiculous rewards, and players like Vayne accept and even agree with the content/rewards. Seriously, open your eyes and actually look at what the reward is for once. I felt more rewarded after I finished mario bros when I got absolutely nothing. At least Mario gave me fun in exchange for playing the game.

Guild Wars 2 isn’t going down hill. It’s just a different hill than the one you want…which is far enough. Completely different from saying its’ going down hill.

The mini is a mistake. I’ve said so in numerous threads…but it’s still just a mini. I didn’t expect a random mini this year…do you know why? Because in Guild Wars 1, birthdays were the predominant way to get minis and when it launched the only way. So it was a thing. Here, I have minis coming out of my ears. The game is a year old and I don’t really care about another mini. I knew Anet wasn’t going to give people random minis, because in this particular game that doesn’t make sense.

Of course, those attached to Guild Wars 1 think otherwise.

I love this video game.

BilboBaggins.5620:

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Yes, there was RNG with the original birthday gifts…but at least it wasn’t “you’re stuck with what you get RNG”. I think that’s what most people (at least myself) dislike about the RNG in this game…most of the RNG stuff is account/character bound.

The nice thing about GW1 birthday gifts was there was a variety of minis from each yearly birthday gift, and if you didn’t like it, wanted more, or didn’t get the one you want, you could buy/sell the minis to other players. Pretty much made everyone happy because there was RNG and it was fun, but for those who didn’t like RNG had the option to just buy the one they want.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

BilboBaggins.5620:

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Yes, there was RNG with the original birthday gifts…but at least it wasn’t “you’re stuck with what you get RNG”. I think that’s what most people (at least myself) dislike about the RNG in this game…most of the RNG stuff is account/character bound.

The nice thing about GW1 birthday gifts was there was a variety of minis from each yearly birthday gift, and if you didn’t like it, wanted more, or didn’t get the one you want, you could buy/sell the minis to other players. Pretty much made everyone happy because there was RNG and it was fun, but for those who didn’t like RNG had the option to just buy the one they want.

Except that in Guild Wars 1, birthday were the main way to get minis…and bring them into the world. That’s simply not true here. So if the entire situation has changed, why would you still expect the same present?

I really like the birthday booster however other then that this birthday gift was rather ill conceived. Any way you look at it, it just doesn’t make any sense.

And to those who say “be grateful stop wining” get real, if you do something once and its good that means you are expected to do it at least as well or better in the future. Period end of story. If you don’t think that’s true then you’ve never had a job.

Anyway the real reason to me that it doesn’t make any sense at all is because of the mini and the leveling scroll.

First of all, because the mini is account bound how does it make sense for every character to get it?

Secondly as you get more and more characters you will get more and more leveling scrolls. This is also quite silly logic because the more characters you have the less need you have for the insta lvl 20 scrolls.

I appreciate receiving a gift, I just think that the contents of this gift were rather puzzling as if not a whole lot of thought went into it.

Vayne.8563:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

BilboBaggins.5620:

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Yes, there was RNG with the original birthday gifts…but at least it wasn’t “you’re stuck with what you get RNG”. I think that’s what most people (at least myself) dislike about the RNG in this game…most of the RNG stuff is account/character bound.

The nice thing about GW1 birthday gifts was there was a variety of minis from each yearly birthday gift, and if you didn’t like it, wanted more, or didn’t get the one you want, you could buy/sell the minis to other players. Pretty much made everyone happy because there was RNG and it was fun, but for those who didn’t like RNG had the option to just buy the one they want.

Except that in Guild Wars 1, birthday were the main way to get minis…and bring them into the world. That’s simply not true here. So if the entire situation has changed, why would you still expect the same present?

I expect that when I buy from a company I get the same kind of appreciation from them as long as that company is around. Not that I am not “grateful” for the birthday gift, but the fact that as a company they used to do this for their players each year to show their appreciation for being a loyal fan each year, it’s disappointing to see they went cheap.

And don’t say “it’s a different game” because plenty of important and fun traditions from GW1 were transferred over, such as Wintersday. This was one they transferred over but as I said, went cheap on, and it’s rather disappointing to a customer and fan of 7 years.

The Eternal Grace.3157:

Vayne.8563:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

BilboBaggins.5620:

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Yes, there was RNG with the original birthday gifts…but at least it wasn’t “you’re stuck with what you get RNG”. I think that’s what most people (at least myself) dislike about the RNG in this game…most of the RNG stuff is account/character bound.

The nice thing about GW1 birthday gifts was there was a variety of minis from each yearly birthday gift, and if you didn’t like it, wanted more, or didn’t get the one you want, you could buy/sell the minis to other players. Pretty much made everyone happy because there was RNG and it was fun, but for those who didn’t like RNG had the option to just buy the one they want.

Except that in Guild Wars 1, birthday were the main way to get minis…and bring them into the world. That’s simply not true here. So if the entire situation has changed, why would you still expect the same present?

I expect that when I buy from a company I get the same kind of appreciation from them as long as that company is around. Not that I am not “grateful” for the birthday gift, but the fact that as a company they used to do this for their players each year to show their appreciation for being a loyal fan each year, it’s disappointing to see they went cheap.

And don’t say “it’s a different game” because plenty of important and fun traditions from GW1 were transferred over, such as Wintersday. This was one they transferred over but as I said, went cheap on, and it’s rather disappointing to a customer and fan of 7 years.

But you’re not addressing my point. In Guild Wars 1 minis were rarer and thus more special. You’re holding on to that definition.

The question is what percentage of players really care about minis. I admittedly cared about them more in Guild Wars 1 than Guild Wars 2. Because in Guild Wars 2 I have 50 of them before my first birthday ever hit. So a mini wouldn’t be special to me personally. It’s a different situation not just a different game. You expect the same response from the company, even though minis are so easy to attain here, compared to Guild Wars 1. I don’t expect that.

The birthday booster, on the other hand, is a better result for me, particularly because I have so many of them. I get to have magic find boost, which gives me more chance of valuable stuff for days on end (particularly because if you log out, it doesn’t keep counting). I have weeks of boost, compared to a mini on each character.

While I understand you’d prefer a mini, I’m personally minied out. I don’t need another mini. More drops for the new upgrade however (which will possible increase my magic find permanently)? That I welcome.

It’s just a different perspective.

Vayne.8563:

The Eternal Grace.3157:

BilboBaggins.5620:

Biohazard.4196:

The reward clearly isn’t universally bad. Some are enjoying it.

When I open my eyes, I see a lvl 20 scroll, a birthday booster, and a Queen Jennah mini. The extra minis and scrolls aren’t of any use to me, but the boosters can be. Thus, I see a positive outcome. A different mini for each gift like in GW1 would have certainly been more interesting. However, I see no reason to become more than momentarily unimpressed and certainly no reason to become angry.

snip

I agree with you and everyone else that there were valuable gifts in the birthday present. I’m not angry at ArenaNet, I just think it was kinda cheap and easy to give out identical minis instead of keeping the mystery of random chance. And yes, I know a lot of people are screaming about rng, I’m not one of them. I don’t seem to do very well, but I don’t mind it (maybe because I played D&D).

So yeah, I’m just basically providing feedback to ArenaNet that I would’ve preferred a random mini to 8 identical ones. ArenaNet has the choice to do whatever they want with that feedback, but it’s definitely not a sense of ‘entitlement’.

Yes, there was RNG with the original birthday gifts…but at least it wasn’t “you’re stuck with what you get RNG”. I think that’s what most people (at least myself) dislike about the RNG in this game…most of the RNG stuff is account/character bound.

The nice thing about GW1 birthday gifts was there was a variety of minis from each yearly birthday gift, and if you didn’t like it, wanted more, or didn’t get the one you want, you could buy/sell the minis to other players. Pretty much made everyone happy because there was RNG and it was fun, but for those who didn’t like RNG had the option to just buy the one they want.

Except that in Guild Wars 1, birthday were the main way to get minis…and bring them into the world. That’s simply not true here. So if the entire situation has changed, why would you still expect the same present?

Counter-Argument.

Why not? Why shouldn’t they give 1 random mini from the previous/new batch each year to players as a birthday gift?

Consider this; after five character slots, you pay 800 gems for a new one. One Mini-Set-Cage-Thingy costs 300 gems. At the very least, assuming gems are profitable on their part (which they’re not but w/e) they’re still making a profit of 500 gems. And it doesn’t cost them anything to make more, all they need to do is change “750 ____ Minipets in the game” to “751 ____ Minipets in the game”.

Sure, the entire situation has changed, but not in a way that would make it problematic for them to continue the system. It barely scratches them by doing this. Most importantly, they don’t really loose cash for doing so.