Guild Wars 2

Creslin.1758:

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

Rococo.8347:

’So I would ask you to judge us by details, ’

Hell on a hot tin roof – isnt that what we HAVE been doing? and why so many are unhappy?!

Don’t judge us – hey, eyes up here – on the treadmill, judge us – hey, HEY. look at this – on this tasty looking carrot.

I dunno…I think that the betrayal, liars, etc. QQ fest about Ascended items has run its course at this point.

The stark reality is just as Mike O says:

1. They added items for 2 slots that offer a 5-10% stat increase, so the power differential that these items grant is seriously not that much.

2. Currently these items require a large grind to get, but they have admitted that it may have been excessive.

3. They are planning on adding multiple ways to get Ascended items so that you will not be forced to grind FoTM.

Now…if you have a huge problem with those three facts, I guess feel free to whine. But honestly…I think you would be being unreasonable. Just about every argument made against Ascended is a slippery slope argument, because the reality of the current situation just isn’t that bad.

You’re right in one sense. The reality has been laid out by ANET, in no uncertain terms.

I won’t be “whining” here any more. I have a policy about not complaining or attacking games that I don’t play. Even though I might play GW2 now and then to kill some time, there’s no reason to continue campaigning for a true stat-capped game here. I’ll take that fight back to my blog on MMORPG.com.

Ballistic.4531:

Ditton.3149:

Ballistic.4531:

Ditton.3149:

Ballistic.4531:

UnderdogSMO.9428:

Ballistic.4531:

Astralporing.1957:

Yep, no new tiers… they’ll just deploy rares with exotic stats, exotics with ascendant ones, and ascendants with even bigger ones.

This is exactly what I’m worried about too. You don’t need to call it a new tier but it’s the same thing. Better stats are better stats – call it ascended 2 tier or ascended tier but with better stats than previously released ascended gear. Core of the idea is to calm the vocal anti-treadmill players by masking the treadmill under the same tier (tier-name).
That being said, the PR-answers Chris gave us actually did calm me down. A lot. He admited that they made several mistakes with this patch. And he actually admited it several times and appologized for it. Which is far more than I expected from this AMA.
I might get back into the game now, but will still hold on to gem purchases and will know what to expect in the future.

man… if i let every little thing that MIGHT happen worry me my life would suck and there would never be any enjoyment in it.

Chris actually said himself that this WILL happen.

No..he said they werent against it and he wasnt going to promise that it would not. Anything else is inference.

Actually nope. You are plain wrong. In his answer to E2 question he sais:
“That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.”

Since..said items would be a power curve anyway if introduced as a full set, he still isnt saying they will have another tier or more powerful items. If he said there was “no” power curve for the sets in the future, people would crucify him when a chest plate had better stats. Its awfully PC, but he isnt really saying anything other than new stuff is coming out within the tiers already present.

But isn’t he saying that new, better stuff is coming out within the same tier. Because he said there will be no new tiers for forseable future, so the only way I see it is that you will get new, better gear within the same tier (speculation: through better infusions?). Because I don’t see how you equate power curve to an already existing tier (granted not entire set is in yet, but he was talking about new gears in the future).

exactly that..there are 13 other pieces of gear not present in ascended I think, so to me that is increasing the power curve just by releasing those. And ascended is already out of the bag.

Just got clarification from Chris for his previous quote, “That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.”

Hi Timebomb,

There will certainly be different combinations and potentially new types of stats added to a specific rarity with no overall % power increase.

However Ascended and Legendary will be infuse able.

Infusions will become the vertical progression earn able in PVE and WvW and accessible through a wide variety of different player activities thus catering to lots of different types of players and gained from all across the world of Tyria.

Should we add new player levels to the game then new items within the current rarities with a shallow power increase would be viable, however we would look at doing a new system rather than defaulting to this initially.

Chris

Are there any questions being asked about class balance, improving traits, new weapons and skills? Seems like he’s answering the same questions about ascended gear over and over.

morrolan.9608:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

GuildWars 2 has grind.

I don’t even need to go to another game to tell you that. It has grind, however infinitesimal,

Its not infinitesimal though.

I didn’t insist it was infinitesimal, I said “however infinitesimal” . . . like everyone else I’m trying to choose my phrasing very carefully. You can go ahead and change that to “it has grind, no matter how much” if you like to see if that’s clearer any.

I can’t value their grind, because as some other people pointed out – everyone has a different threshold from “okay, reasonable amount of effort” as opposed to “grind-o-rama! get your coffee beans!”. For me, it’s at one level. For others, that level is different.

Meaning, that universally, there is “some grind” present because someone is going to say they find it “grind-y”. For me? Legendaries are a little grind-y. (Okay, a bit more than that, but considering their place? I think it’s warranted. Other people may not think so. There’s where the friction comes in.)

Penguin.5197:

My definition of grind is probably slightly different by yours, but it seems that by your definition every game has grind. From just leveling up in pokemon, racing to get that next car and so on. So to have a “no grind” game how would you have done it (what were your expectations from the manifesto)? The closest I can think of is just to give out everything free to everyone, since working for something seems to be a grind as minimal as it may be.

Oh gods above Pokemon leveling is a grind. It’s been YEARS and I still haven’t completed that grind and all I need to do anymore is turn it on and pound out levels. In Dragon Quest, leveling or earning gold is a grind. In Final Fantasy, grinding is expected of you and almost required to weather the last half of the game. Of course, in those games we sort of accept it is going to happen. We’re never very happy about it. (“Okay, on to the Gold Golem farm near Rimuladar Wish me luck. Send food after an hour.”)

Heck, even one of what I consider the best games I ever played . . . the original Legend of Zelda, had its share of grind. (BLUE. RING.) You could short-cut it if you knew how but in essence, still a grind even if you cheated past it.

. . . and to go further, even Minecraft has grind. Yes. It does. And if any of you played it on Survival/Hardcore you know what grind I mean.

How would I design a game? I’m not a game developer, so I can’t answer that. I’m also so used to the idea of RPGs which have a grind somewhere in them that I don’t think I could leave it out. (I could, but people would probably find one anyway, which snuck in through my subconscious.)

I could go on to craft a game in broad strokes right here, and I bet you ten gold there will be three people figuring out how to grind it in an hour after I could make it reality. You know why? Any game wherein entities or items respawn will be subjected to grind mentality.

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

Creslin.1758:

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

Rococo.8347:

’So I would ask you to judge us by details, ’

Hell on a hot tin roof – isnt that what we HAVE been doing? and why so many are unhappy?!

Don’t judge us – hey, eyes up here – on the treadmill, judge us – hey, HEY. look at this – on this tasty looking carrot.

I dunno…I think that the betrayal, liars, etc. QQ fest about Ascended items has run its course at this point.

The stark reality is just as Mike O says:

1. They added items for 2 slots that offer a 5-10% stat increase, so the power differential that these items grant is seriously not that much.

2. Currently these items require a large grind to get, but they have admitted that it may have been excessive.

3. They are planning on adding multiple ways to get Ascended items so that you will not be forced to grind FoTM.

Now…if you have a huge problem with those three facts, I guess feel free to whine. But honestly…I think you would be being unreasonable. Just about every argument made against Ascended is a slippery slope argument, because the reality of the current situation just isn’t that bad.

You’re right in one sense. The reality has been laid out by ANET, in no uncertain terms.

I won’t be “whining” here any more. I have a policy about not complaining or attacking games that I don’t play. Even though I might play GW2 now and then to kill some time, there’s no reason to continue campaigning for a true stat-capped game here. I’ll take that fight back to my blog on MMORPG.com.

sounds good, at least you are an honorable fellow. Wish you the best.

Im putting money on moving and forward being among Chris’s favourite words

Maybe we should attach a drinking game to it ;D

TimeBomb.3427:

Just got clarification from Chris for his previous quote, “That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.”

Hi Timebomb,

There will certainly be different combinations and potentially new types of stats added to a specific rarity with no overall % power increase.

However Ascended and Legendary will be infuse able.

Infusions will become the vertical progression earn able in PVE and WvW and accessible through a wide variety of different player activities thus catering to lots of different types of players and gained from all across the world of Tyria.

Should we add new player levels to the game then new items within the current rarities with a shallow power increase would be viable, however we would look at doing a new system rather than defaulting to this initially.

Chris

So my reading of that is that future ‘shallow’ stat increases will come through new infusions. However as was asked on the previous page where does that leave current dungeon gear?

Rococo.8347:

Im putting money on moving and forward being among Chris’s favourite words

Maybe we should attach a drinking game to it ;D

“Moving forward” is a safe way of saying any or all of the following:

- We’ll continue making the game as we intend.
- We’ll make changes according to fan reactions
- We won’t simply shut down the game, it will continue being online.
- We won’t be making any changes at all, merely leaving the servers online until we go broke.

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

I think the most interesting comment from him so far is about the new ascended items and how it was a mistake not to do it at launch and world wide … almost like he is saying, yeah we know we blew it, but we are going to be rectifying it.

Timebomb thanks a lot, you are very helpful!
cheers

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

Once all ascended items are released, if the stat differences are similar to the rings, then it will be a 13% difference if you have a full ascended set. (ascended item w/ blue infusion vs exotic item w/ top quality gem).

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

You do know that there is a full set of Ascended gear incoming?

TimeBomb.3427:

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

Once all ascended items are released, if the stat differences are similar to the rings, then it will be a 13% difference if you have a full ascended set. (ascended item w/ blue infusion vs exotic item w/ top quality gem).

Taking into account all item slots, then yes, I see the 13%.

However, we still don’t know how runes and sigils will factor into it, so exotics can currently technically outweigh that 13% increase.

Chris Whiteside @ Reddit:

It is great that you are italicizing questions that have been answered thanks. My intention is to answer as many question as possible and then when i get home tonight I will continue to answer questions:

E3: How will future events be handled in regards to timing? Oceanic players are upset that the one-time-only events were skewed to arguably unfavorable times for them, and that many didn’t get to participate.

Moving forward we are going to do our best to design events that are accessible to the community as possible. We really should have thought about some of the ramifications of the design of the Karka event in more detail. In short its not something we wanted to happen and we will be rethinking how we do 1 time events moving forward.

chris

That is such a great neutral answer. Certainly keeps us Oceanic people guessing huh? :P To be fair I don’t think he couldn’t have answered differently as the real answer will be how they handle their next few events – big and small. If I am not even given the chance to participate in every single aspect of them then I think this is the wrong game to be spending my time on.

Also, at least one thing is clear here – 1 time events aren’t being trashed, which is unfortunate. Hope they realize they can just make instanced stuff that everyone can do at least once which would probably sort out this timing issue if they continue with this model.

I wonder if anyone of these people at AN have children of their own. I have 5 kids and I learned very early on that even on one of their birthdays you never EVER bring home something special for one and not the others, imagine bringing home one ice cream cone and choosing only one of your children to give it too.

This patch did exactly that…purist, casual and pvper got no ice cream cone and you wonder why power creep got beat up.

arcaneclarity.5283:

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

You do know that there is a full set of Ascended gear incoming?

I’m aware, but we have no idea how Runes and Sigils will ever factor into them if at all.

For instance, if the Armour and Weapons follow the Accesories in stats, that means that they will only take into account jewel upgrades, and not the upgrades a full set of runes or a sigil will offer. Remember, Runes further skew the stats of a set of armour, giving a full set an additional 200 toughness for example, or with sigils giving a AOE blast effect on crit or something.

We can’t account for those factors at present, so even the 13% is still speculation. The only hard numbers we have is the 3 accessory slots, and thats only a 1% increase.

tkalamba.2541:

TimeBomb.3427:

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

Once all ascended items are released, if the stat differences are similar to the rings, then it will be a 13% difference if you have a full ascended set. (ascended item w/ blue infusion vs exotic item w/ top quality gem).

Taking into account all item slots, then yes, I see the 13%.

However, we still don’t know how runes and sigils will factor into it, so exotics can currently technically outweigh that 13% increase.

Actually, we do know how runes will factor. They will be included with the Ascended item itself.

Ascended gear works a little bit differently than other gear types. The stats and functionality normally added to gear through upgrade components are actually built into Ascended items.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Basically, you are going to have to grind your kitten off via the RNG to get a full set of Ascended gear with the full rune set you want.

Hey cool, my ban lifted right in time to comment on the AMA.

Well, they want to keep the treadmill and make you work long past 80 to get max gear. That’s not the game I can enjoy playing or want to support. Thanks for the clarification.

Maybe I’ll return after ascended gear and ascended infusions is so common that it’s as easy to get as exotics now. That is, if they don’t introduce another way of keeping the treadmill alive.

arcaneclarity.5283:

tkalamba.2541:

TimeBomb.3427:

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

Once all ascended items are released, if the stat differences are similar to the rings, then it will be a 13% difference if you have a full ascended set. (ascended item w/ blue infusion vs exotic item w/ top quality gem).

Taking into account all item slots, then yes, I see the 13%.

However, we still don’t know how runes and sigils will factor into it, so exotics can currently technically outweigh that 13% increase.

Actually, we do know how runes will factor. They will be included with the Ascended item itself.

Ascended gear works a little bit differently than other gear types. The stats and functionality normally added to gear through upgrade components are actually built into Ascended items.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Basically, you are going to have to grind your kitten off via the RNG to get a full set of Ascended gear with the full rune set you want.

except that he said they were going to put many different ways of getting the items several times and you like ignoring anything he says that might be possibly construed as positive.

arcaneclarity.5283:

tkalamba.2541:

TimeBomb.3427:

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

Once all ascended items are released, if the stat differences are similar to the rings, then it will be a 13% difference if you have a full ascended set. (ascended item w/ blue infusion vs exotic item w/ top quality gem).

Taking into account all item slots, then yes, I see the 13%.

However, we still don’t know how runes and sigils will factor into it, so exotics can currently technically outweigh that 13% increase.

Actually, we do know how runes will factor. They will be included with the Ascended item itself.

Ascended gear works a little bit differently than other gear types. The stats and functionality normally added to gear through upgrade components are actually built into Ascended items.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Basically, you are going to have to grind your kitten off via the RNG to get a full set of Ascended gear with the full rune set you want.

This doesn’t fully specify what upgrades they are talking about. With Runes and Sigils, it means there will be so many variables to take into account, that it’d be almost pointless to even release items. How will you account for every rune set people use? How about for every Sigil set? They could just be talking about specifically the jewel upgrades. This may actually be an interesting question to see answered on the AMA.

Joseph Skyrim.2470:

That is such a great neutral answer. Certainly keeps us Oceanic people guessing till the next event huh? :P To be fair I don’t think he couldn’t have answered differently as the real answer will be how they handle their next few events. If I am not even given the chance to participate then I think this is the wrong game to be spending my time on.

I’ve seen it explained in other threads by ANet people that the timing is based on when they have the greatest number of people on. For us in the western pacific, GW2 is really quiet in our prime time, so to be involved in GW2 prime time event we need to wake up extra early.

So how many of those list questions did Chris answer that was posted on Reddit? Those were good questions we needed to know.

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

tkalamba.2541:

TimeBomb.3427:

tkalamba.2541:

arcaneclarity.5283:

Chris Whiteside

That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.

So your Ascended gear will eventually be outdated as they replace it with Ascended gear with higher stats. Also, if anyone thinks the +13% increase in power from Exotic to Ascended is shallow, I have a bridge I would like to sell them.

+13%? Have you actually looked at the increase to your total character stats? It’s roughly 1% with all 3 available items which is shallow. Do not look at the individual item, but its proportional effect to you overall stats.

Once all ascended items are released, if the stat differences are similar to the rings, then it will be a 13% difference if you have a full ascended set. (ascended item w/ blue infusion vs exotic item w/ top quality gem).

Taking into account all item slots, then yes, I see the 13%.

However, we still don’t know how runes and sigils will factor into it, so exotics can currently technically outweigh that 13% increase.

Actually, we do know how runes will factor. They will be included with the Ascended item itself.

Ascended gear works a little bit differently than other gear types. The stats and functionality normally added to gear through upgrade components are actually built into Ascended items.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Basically, you are going to have to grind your kitten off via the RNG to get a full set of Ascended gear with the full rune set you want.

This doesn’t fully specify what upgrades they are talking about. With Runes and Sigils, it means there will be so many variables to take into account, that it’d be almost pointless to even release items. How will you account for every rune set people use? How about for every Sigil set? They could just be talking about specifically the jewel upgrades. This may actually be an interesting question to see answered on the AMA.

Great question. Asked: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13tuac/im_the_studio_design_director_on_guild_wars_2_ama/c778nso

Eleazyair.5716:

So how many of those list questions did Chris answer that was posted on Reddit? Those were good questions we needed to know.

I think 5..he is still answering them.

Hi Chris, my question is about the major cities. Are there any plans in the works for attracting people there? Since you decided to make LA the main city, we feel the other major cities are being left out: Divinitys Reach, Black Citadel, Rata Sum, The Grove and Hoelbrak. If you were to give each city an unique activity, do you honestly think that will fix the problem of ghost-capitals?

In GW1 there were several poles of main cities, for several reasons, and that worked astounding! Lions arch, Ascalon city (where the new guys, lowlevels gathered) Great Temple of Balthazar, Hall of heroes, Temple of Ages, Domain of Anguish, Eye of the North, Kaineng City, Kamadan (the main commerce city).

Perhaps moving the krytan dungeons to a waypoint in Divinitys reach and the ascalonian to Black Citadel, and so on? Having populated cities is always a strong factor in strenghtning bonds between people, and raising communities. Thank you for your time

We have been discussion this topic for a while. There are lots of things we have brainstormed but are not firmed up on a direction yet. However here are some ideas to wet your appetite or not:

Events and activities related to town clothes Cities as dungeons! Player created events and activities. Non confrontational material gathering for crafting.

These are just a few of the top of head.

Exciting stuff!

Karizee.8076:

Hi Chris, my question is about the major cities. Are there any plans in the works for attracting people there? Since you decided to make LA the main city, we feel the other major cities are being left out: Divinitys Reach, Black Citadel, Rata Sum, The Grove and Hoelbrak. If you were to give each city an unique activity, do you honestly think that will fix the problem of ghost-capitals?

In GW1 there were several poles of main cities, for several reasons, and that worked astounding! Lions arch, Ascalon city (where the new guys, lowlevels gathered) Great Temple of Balthazar, Hall of heroes, Temple of Ages, Domain of Anguish, Eye of the North, Kaineng City, Kamadan (the main commerce city).

Perhaps moving the krytan dungeons to a waypoint in Divinitys reach and the ascalonian to Black Citadel, and so on? Having populated cities is always a strong factor in strenghtning bonds between people, and raising communities. Thank you for your time

We have been discussion this topic for a while. There are lots of things we have brainstormed but are not firmed up on a direction yet. However here are some ideas to wet your appetite or not:

Events and activities related to town clothes Cities as dungeons! Player created events and activities. Non confrontational material gathering for crafting.

These are just a few of the top of head.

Exciting stuff!

FYI the AMA is not happening in this thread, it’s happening on Reddit. Chris won’t see/respond to your questions unless you post them on the Reddit thread.

TimeBomb.3427:

Karizee.8076:

Hi Chris, my question is about the major cities. Are there any plans in the works for attracting people there? Since you decided to make LA the main city, we feel the other major cities are being left out: Divinitys Reach, Black Citadel, Rata Sum, The Grove and Hoelbrak. If you were to give each city an unique activity, do you honestly think that will fix the problem of ghost-capitals?

In GW1 there were several poles of main cities, for several reasons, and that worked astounding! Lions arch, Ascalon city (where the new guys, lowlevels gathered) Great Temple of Balthazar, Hall of heroes, Temple of Ages, Domain of Anguish, Eye of the North, Kaineng City, Kamadan (the main commerce city).

Perhaps moving the krytan dungeons to a waypoint in Divinitys reach and the ascalonian to Black Citadel, and so on? Having populated cities is always a strong factor in strenghtning bonds between people, and raising communities. Thank you for your time

We have been discussion this topic for a while. There are lots of things we have brainstormed but are not firmed up on a direction yet. However here are some ideas to wet your appetite or not:

Events and activities related to town clothes Cities as dungeons! Player created events and activities. Non confrontational material gathering for crafting.

These are just a few of the top of head.

Exciting stuff!

FYI the AMA is not happening in this thread, it’s happening on Reddit. Chris won’t see/respond to your questions unless you post them on the Reddit thread.

the guy just didnt format it correctly…the bold is Chris’ answer..this was a question he answered already

Ditton.3149:

TimeBomb.3427:

Karizee.8076:

snip

FYI the AMA is not happening in this thread, it’s happening on Reddit. Chris won’t see/respond to your questions unless you post them on the Reddit thread.

the guy just didnt format it correctly…the bold is Chris’ answer..this was a question he answered already

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

Logun.2349:

I’m reading through the answers and all I hear is a soft peddle of “we screwed up”. What I don’t understand is how just about any veteran MMO player on the planet could have predicted how this patch was going to impact the community and the game, yet it got released.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/The-New-GW2-Flavor-Rocks/first

So I just have 2 questions left. When are you going to fix this mess you made, and how can I trust that you’re not going to lose all common sense again?

Arena Net, Congratulations you have simultaneously taught aspiring game designers how to drill down a genre, dissect it, and find solutions to its core flaws, ….. and how to completely 9/11 a game in 3 months with a single half baked patch.

I think they have been pretty transparent about their philosophy. You obviously dont like it, they arent going to roll back or take the items out of the game. They want to expand the items and make them easier to get and more accessible to everyone including lowering ingredient requirements. If its not the answer you are looking for..then it just isnt, spouting hyperbole and being overly dramatic by comparing an experience where 5k people died in a burning tower of death to a video game and its changes..is silly and has no place in constructive conversation.

Razarei.2809:

NDwarf.1867:

Thank you for this AMA. I see they are going full steam ahead with this gear grind nonsense. Had I known in September the game was going in this direction I would of never purchased Guild Wars 2 as I’m not into the hamster wheel/token/gear chase.

Release Hype:

“Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.”

then they state on AMA:

“I would also like add that we have never said there would be no vertical progression. We do intent to focus on horizontal but we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve.”

throws hands up

How can you straight up lie and say “we have never said there would be no vertical progression” when the original “We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs” is out there for all the world to see and AND have to run the FOTM dungeon over and over and ove…nevermind I give up.

Only my second post on these forums but like a lot of players I was waiting for a straight answer on the direction this game is going. Guess it goes on the shelf with SW:TOR and log on every now and then to check out events and such.

Posts like this make me laugh. Are you so inconceivably silly you cannot read and understand those two posts. You’re like people who listen to someone explaining things and pick out a sentence completely out of context and call them up on it. Cmon, really?

How do any of those two statements say there would be no vertical progression. It’s impossible to have a game like this without vertical progression. Why is it now ascended gear is released there’s this ‘vertical progression gear treadmill?’

To be honest, the game is better off without narrow minded people. This isn’t aimed at you entirely, but the attitude of this forum is beyond revolting.

Posts like this make me laugh. Vertical progression defines a gear grind. The only thing sillier would be a statement like " we will have vertical progression moving forward with the focus on zero grind and a very low power curve." But, both statements only betray a misunderstanding of the elements of game design, nothing more. I agree with your statement about people with narrow minds, those who have a blinkered view without the capacity to engage the issues themselves without attacking other players. Those we could truly could do without.

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

Reddit is viewed by far more people than the ingame forums. Using reddit allows for higher reach.

Logun.2349:

I’m reading through the answers and all I hear is a soft peddle of “we screwed up”. What I don’t understand is how just about any veteran MMO player on the planet could have predicted how this patch was going to impact the community and the game, yet it got released.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/The-New-GW2-Flavor-Rocks/first

So I just have 2 questions left. When are you going to fix this mess you made, and how can I trust that you’re not going to lose all common sense again?

Arena Net, Congratulations you have simultaneously taught aspiring game designers how to drill down a genre, dissect it, and find solutions to its core flaws, ….. and how to completely 9/11 a game in 3 months with a single half baked patch.

They’re not going to fix the mess, if you mean the fractured community. And you can’t trust them anymore if you asked that question. No matter what they tell you, the doubt is there now. It’s not going away, as unfortunate as it may be. You can embrace the doubt, and be skeptical about anything they say ever from now until they cease to be . . . or you can accept what they say until it turns out to be false. Or you can mix it up, naturally, depending on your own judgement.

Either way, they can’t just wave a magic phrase and restore your trust back to before it was broken. That’s up to you.

Ditton.3149:

Logun.2349:

I’m reading through the answers and all I hear is a soft peddle of “we screwed up”. What I don’t understand is how just about any veteran MMO player on the planet could have predicted how this patch was going to impact the community and the game, yet it got released.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/The-New-GW2-Flavor-Rocks/first

So I just have 2 questions left. When are you going to fix this mess you made, and how can I trust that you’re not going to lose all common sense again?

Arena Net, Congratulations you have simultaneously taught aspiring game designers how to drill down a genre, dissect it, and find solutions to its core flaws, ….. and how to completely 9/11 a game in 3 months with a single half baked patch.

I think they have been pretty transparent about their philosophy. You obviously dont like it, they arent going to roll back or take the items out of the game. They want to expand the items and make them easier to get and more accessible to everyone including lowering ingredient requirements. If its not the answer you are looking for..then it just isnt, spouting hyperbole and being overly dramatic by comparing an experience where 5k people died in a burning tower of death to a video game and its changes..is silly and has no place in constructive conversation.

You didn’t follow the link did you, I get they have a plan to fix this mess. I’m just baffeled how they could have made this blunder to begin with.

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

He answered 6 af all these questions?
I do count more than 60+ quesions.

jinroh.9217:

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

He answered 6 af all these questions?
I do count more than 60+ quesions.

These aren’t the only questions being asked, give the guy some time to get to them. He’s at 9 now, and he’s answered other questions the Reddit community has. The forums aren’t the only place people who play GW2 congregate.

Not to mention, alot of the questions out of those 60 had already been asked by reddit users.

What a sad cluster. Is this how a professional game company does a question and answer? What was the point to that trainwreck.

I do not sponsor people but in this case Lorechief did a kitten fine job in collecting a varied and believable set of questions from the community and Anet simply ignored it and the clowns hosting this fiasco did not push the issue for want of angering the developers. Very sad hosting, poorly done and unprofessional.

Anet developers contradicted themselves, the worst was the developers stating they KNEW what was going to happen when the vertical progression went into effect and yet they did not have any fixes in place and the devs stated they have learned lessons in this regard ad naseum, etc, etc.

“We have learned lessons moving forward”, i am so tired of reading that. Is anyone in charge at ANET?

The devs would have been safer not answering questions at all since everything they stated was already “guessed” by players posting on other threads regarding what would happen to certain aspects of the game,meaning players already know the aftermath of the dev failures and devs simply stating the obvious did not answer anything.

It is a mathmatical oddity that the devs release content and then back track or apologize stating they KNEW what was going to happen in regards to feedback and yet….there is never anything in place to fix those mistakes, except excuses…..and why have the mistakes or poor ideas in the first place if you know something will not work?

Pathetic. I guess the new business model is to half donkey things and apologize afterword….moving forward.

Logun.2349:

I’m reading through the answers and all I hear is a soft peddle of “we screwed up”. What I don’t understand is how just about any veteran MMO player on the planet could have predicted how this patch was going to impact the community and the game, yet it got released.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/The-New-GW2-Flavor-Rocks/first

So I just have 2 questions left. When are you going to fix this mess you made, and how can I trust that you’re not going to lose all common sense again?

Arena Net, Congratulations you have simultaneously taught aspiring game designers how to drill down a genre, dissect it, and find solutions to its core flaws, ….. and how to completely 9/11 a game in 3 months with a single half baked patch.

I’m afraid your questions have now been answered. The fix is to add more levels to grind (vertical progression) with the promise that the focus will be on “zero grind”. Good luck with that. But, this is what I was waiting to hear, and they have decided to double down on choice they made. It’s sad as I got my third character to 80 yesterday and paradoxically will have nothing to do with them now that they are 80. They’ve added an end-game gear grind and since I don’t like grindy games what’s left? Level another alt? I don’t think so—I only did that under the promises of the Manifesto that there would be something to do after 80 that was non-grindy. They didn’t make grindy games after all.

Graill.8596:

What a sad cluster. Is this how a professional game company does a question and answer? What was the point to that trainwreck.

I do not sponsor people but in this case Lorechief did a kitten fine job in collecting a varied and believable set of questions from the community and Anet simply ignored it and the clowns hosting this fiasco did not push the issue for want of angering the developers. Very sad hosting, poorly done and unprofessional.

Anet developers contradicted themselves, the worst was the developers stating they KNEW what was going to happen when the vertical progression went into effect and yet they did not have any fixes in place and the devs stated they have learned lessons in this regard ad naseum, etc, etc.

“We have learned lessons moving forward”, i am so tired of reading that. Is anyone in charge at ANET?

The devs would have been safer not answering questions at all since everything they stated was already “guessed” by players posting on other threads regarding what would happen to certain aspects of the game,meaning players already know the aftermath of the dev failures and devs simply stating the obvious did not answer anything.

It is a mathmatical oddity that the devs release content and then back track or apologize stating they KNEW what was going to happen in regards to feedback and yet….there is never anything in place to fix those mistakes, except excuses…..and why have the mistakes or poor ideas in the first place if you know something will not work?

Pathetic. I guess the new business model is to half donkey things and apologize afterword….moving forward.

Um… he is answering your questions, as well as many other questions posted by others. There’s alot of overlap… and you guys collected 60+ questions. The guy is even answering them from home…. what else could you possible ask for?

tkalamba.2541:

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

Reddit is viewed by far more people than the ingame forums. Using reddit allows for higher reach.

why schould reddit get more ppl than this board?
reddit is viewed by far more people, right.
but do they all play or care bout GW2?

jinroh.9217:

tkalamba.2541:

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

Reddit is viewed by far more people than the ingame forums. Using reddit allows for higher reach.

why schould reddit get more ppl than this board?
reddit is viewed by far more people, right.
but do they all play or care bout GW2?

The subreddit (which is a Guildwars 2 specific section) has roughly 79,000 subscribers, which is likely a higher active user count than these forums. Also, comscore (online metrics tool) tells me that that reddit not only has a much higher reach, but much higher rate of unique visitors, and a much higher time spent metric.

I’m willing to be Anet knows this. Also, reddit is much more influencial than a game’s official forum. Things on reddit will, and do get picked up much quicker than forum posts. It’s a simple matter of reddit simply having more klout, and being generally more informative as a community.

TimeBomb.3427:

Just got clarification from Chris for his previous quote, “That is why there is no plan for new Rarity Tiers of loot but there are plans to enhance or gain items within the existing rarity design whose properties continue on a shallow power curve.”

Hi Timebomb,

There will certainly be different combinations and potentially new types of stats added to a specific rarity with no overall % power increase.

However Ascended and Legendary will be infuse able.

Infusions will become the vertical progression earn able in PVE and WvW and accessible through a wide variety of different player activities thus catering to lots of different types of players and gained from all across the world of Tyria.

Should we add new player levels to the game then new items within the current rarities with a shallow power increase would be viable, however we would look at doing a new system rather than defaulting to this initially.

Chris

Thx for quoting that.

This statement sounds better than the orginal one, now it all depends on how timeconsuming it will be to get ascended gear. Currently the price is about 10 times as much as what I consider acceptable. If they change that and make ascended gear as easy to reach as exotics are now, then I’m almost happy again. (Unless getting infusions would be a horrible grind).

ASB.4295:

Hey cool, my ban lifted right in time to comment on the AMA.

Well, they want to keep the treadmill and make you work long past 80 to get max gear. That’s not the game I can enjoy playing or want to support. Thanks for the clarification.

Maybe I’ll return after ascended gear and ascended infusions is so common that it’s as easy to get as exotics now. That is, if they don’t introduce another way of keeping the treadmill alive.

Power creeps creeps; that’s why they call it power creep.

Chris Whiteside

We do not believe we have gone against any of our principals,

He keeps repeating this, yet this has been pointed out repeatedly, so many of us obviously believe that they have went against their own principals. We were marketed their philosophy and principals with every PR statement leading up to release. This is what we made our purchasing decision on. Yet he continues this line. Honestly, this whole AMA has done nothing but insult my intelligence.

tkalamba.2541:

jinroh.9217:

tkalamba.2541:

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

Reddit is viewed by far more people than the ingame forums. Using reddit allows for higher reach.

why schould reddit get more ppl than this board?
reddit is viewed by far more people, right.
but do they all play or care bout GW2?

The subreddit (which is a Guildwars 2 specific section) has roughly 79,000 subscribers, which is likely a higher active user count than these forums. Also, comscore (online metrics tool) tells me that that reddit not only has a much higher reach, but much higher rate of unique visitors, and a much higher time spent metric.

I’m willing to be Anet knows this. Also, reddit is much more influencial than a game’s official forum. Things on reddit will, and do get picked up much quicker than forum posts. It’s a simple matter of reddit simply having more klout, and being generally more informative as a community.

Also, a vocal minority cannot overtake Reddit, they would get downvoted to oblivion.
Valid concerns of the majority of players will naturally rise to the top.

Raine.1394:

Power creeps creeps; that’s why they call it power creep.

To be fair, power creep is different phenomenon that is just part of the treadmill symptom. We had power creep in GW1 without ever getting more powerful gear. Skills combinations became more powerful with each expansion, making content easier and easier to complete, requiring harder and more unforgiving content to stay challenging. Power creep is a problem, but it’s a different pair of shoes compared to gear treadmilling. They are connected, though.

Karizee.8076:

tkalamba.2541:

jinroh.9217:

tkalamba.2541:

Ditton.3149:

jinroh.9217:

1)
why dont you use your own channels to communicate with your own gamers?
do i need an account at facebook, twitter, reddit etc. to stay up to date?
make that optional, but not mandatory.
2)
why do you close/ merge / delete all threads with constructive feedback?
the op cant do anything bout flame, offtopic, etc.
dont infract him, infract the ones who fale or go offtopic, but dont close or delet threads.
3)
do more communicate with your costumers.
" thanks for your question" is like politics.
4)
dont use the “Moderator”-account anymore.
tell us who posted and why.
5)
Answer:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/13lio6/prepare_for_the_chris_whiteside_ama_here/
If you just would answer these questions,
alot of ppl would know if they will stay or leave.
greatings

he has answered 6 of them..and they have used reddit since beta to communciate with fans and others who might be interested

Reddit is viewed by far more people than the ingame forums. Using reddit allows for higher reach.

why schould reddit get more ppl than this board?
reddit is viewed by far more people, right.
but do they all play or care bout GW2?

The subreddit (which is a Guildwars 2 specific section) has roughly 79,000 subscribers, which is likely a higher active user count than these forums. Also, comscore (online metrics tool) tells me that that reddit not only has a much higher reach, but much higher rate of unique visitors, and a much higher time spent metric.

I’m willing to be Anet knows this. Also, reddit is much more influencial than a game’s official forum. Things on reddit will, and do get picked up much quicker than forum posts. It’s a simple matter of reddit simply having more klout, and being generally more informative as a community.

Also, a vocal minority cannot overtake Reddit, they would get downvoted to oblivion.
Valid concerns of the majority of players will naturally rise to the top.

Exactly, in essence its a much better representation of the players feelings and concerns.