Guild Wars 2

Did Anet just troll the world? Or set up these two people to look foolish?
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/big-changes-are-coming-to-the-commander-system/
These are direct quotes and information from two Anet employees, coming from a responsible publication on GW2, also. I have a little righteous indignation building here. This is not fair to the employees, the customers, or the publication reporting this.

http://www.guildmag.com/command-tag-gamescom-2014/

While we were watching said demo ourselves, we asked Matt Wuerffel and Elisabeth Cardy what this would mean for the current commander tag and they gave the following information:
“Yes, so each color is purchased individually, and it is important to note that there is no hierarchy for colors so that you have to purchase blue and then have to go to red or yellow or whatever. It is also important to point out that if you already bought a commander tag, it will become account bound so that when you’ve bought a blue commander tag you’ll never have to spend money on that again. So if you bought blue already you can go ahead and buy other colors if you want. If you’ve bought more than three you can contact costumer support and get a refund.”

Thanks, missed that…which is easy to do around here. I am glad to see someone listening, however a public statement should be made about this, through the above publication so that their integrity and those of the involved employees are maintained.

^What Randulf said. It would be super nice of the community to thank them profusely for listening and making this change. They listened! That’s what everyone wants and that’s what we got and they should have all of our thanks for this specific decision especially from people that have been overly critical in perhaps even a rude and childish manner.

You have my thanks ArenaNet and I don’t even play WvW. Very nice gesture not turning the Commander Tag into a gold sink, but a QoL change for the better.

Kysin.6349:

No trolling, just Anet listening to feedback. Give them some credit!

It’s still more fun to think they intentionally punked us. Although, admittedly too many people wouldn’t find the humor in it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/Commander-Tag-Changes-Feedback-merged/4313965

And Anet, thanks for listening! Really.

Add my thanks as well. Great choice, Anet!

I am not to keen on the whole wvw/commander thing but if I am understanding this post and the links, Anet changed their minds and 1 commander tag can be color swapped at any time, with no need to purchase different colors?

If this is so, it is good to know Anet took the feedback to heart and acted on it.

Kysin.6349:

No trolling, just Anet listening to feedback. Give them some credit!

Don’t let some people hear this. It might ruin the horrible imagine of Anet that some players have cultivated for themselves.

It’s good ANet IS listening despite their resounding silence of late giving the appearance that they are not. So good job devs. All credit where it is due, that was a pretty fast turnaround time on that.

It’s a shame two devs had to give up part or all of their weekend to fix this. All the bad publicity could have been avoided if they were more communicative and got feedback on the implementation earlier. And the devs wouldn’t have had to give up their weekend.

Erukk.1408:

Kysin.6349:

No trolling, just Anet listening to feedback. Give them some credit!

Don’t let some people hear this. It might ruin the horrible imagine of Anet that some players have cultivated for themselves.

This.

I’m very impressed with the direction they took for it. Now that 300G we would have spent can be used for siege, food, and disablers.

What about all those threads about how Anet doesn’t listen and doesn’t communicate with their players? This must be a hoax. I simply can’t believe that a bunch of random angry people posting complaints on the internet can be wrong.

DragonWhimsy.6489:

It’s a shame two devs had to give up part or all of their weekend to fix this. All the bad publicity could have been avoided if they were more communicative and got feedback on the implementation earlier. And the devs wouldn’t have had to give up their weekend.

Quoted for truth and bolded for emphasis. Not that people don’t appreciate the fact that two devs were dedicated enough to work through the weekend to fix this, because I truly believe people do appreciate their efforts. But the fact remains that ANet’s sloppy and ineffective communication style is at fault here. It would be completely unnecessary to have to do last-minute implementation changes like this if they were communicating in a timely manner. They have only themselves to blame.

tolunart.2095:

What about all those threads about how Anet doesn’t listen and doesn’t communicate with their players? This must be a hoax. I simply can’t believe that a bunch of random angry people posting complaints on the internet can be wrong.

What it means is that bunch of random angry people can be right.
It also means that sometimes what they plan, may not be what the game needs.

I am happy with the quick response and extra work those guys did to solve things. I really think they could save a lot of time an energy by running more things by the intended playerbase.
Not like they should always listen, but they can at least know how something is going to be received.

minbariguy.7504:

DragonWhimsy.6489:

It’s a shame two devs had to give up part or all of their weekend to fix this. All the bad publicity could have been avoided if they were more communicative and got feedback on the implementation earlier. And the devs wouldn’t have had to give up their weekend.

Quoted for truth and bolded for emphasis. Not that people don’t appreciate the fact that two devs were dedicated enough to work through the weekend to fix this, because I truly believe people do appreciate their efforts. But the fact remains that ANet’s sloppy and ineffective communication style is at fault here. It would be completely unnecessary to have to do last-minute implementation changes like this if they were communicating in a timely manner. They have only themselves to blame.

Only I bet the two devs who worked overtime weren’t the ones who decided on the new “silence is golden” policy. I hope they at least got good overtime pay out of it.

Thanks ArenaNet. Now it’s right to consider that price a fair deal.

And, they have given everyone who was on the fence about buying one a couple of weeks notice to get a fully functional tag at a discount. Well done.

Good grief, even after Anet finally listens to us, people complain >_<

SRoode.7318:

And, they have given everyone who was on the fence about buying one a couple of weeks notice to get a fully functional tag at a discount. Well done.

Snabbed one a few days ago. I haven’t used it in case I could have picked my color. Now, I can use it… not that I need to.

I’m gonna catch flak for saying this, and I do appreciate the developers working over time, but they wouldn’t have needed to fix this if they understood the problem in the first place.

I am going to love this update on the commander tags. Thanks to the Anet devs who put extra time into this. The community really appreciates it.

Oh, and they have a pink commander tag. I’m happy.

Let me get this straight...
If I buy a commander tag, right now, that only cost 100g, can I use it more than just once, and on different characters too?
Also, if I buy a CT right now, which is currently blue, may I change the colour to red, yellow or purple later on once they’ve updated this?
Please, let me know!

Since this:
http://www.guildmag.com/command-tag-gamescom-2014/
is confusing me..

Zaoda.1653:

Good grief, even after Anet finally listens to us, people complain >_<

I assume you aren’t including yourself in that?

Alga.6498:

Let me get this straight…
If I buy a commander tag, right now, that only cost 100g, can I use it more than just once, and on different characters too?
Also, if I buy a CT right now, which is currently blue, may I change the colour to red, yellow or purple later on once they’ve updated this?
Please, let me know!

Since this:
http://www.guildmag.com/command-tag-gamescom-2014/
is confusing me..

If you buy it now and use it. It’s only on that character. You will only have blue.

After the patch:

Whether or not you used it before the patch, when you use it, all your characters are now Commanders.

All your characters have all the colors and may swap them at will.

Esplen.3940:

SRoode.7318:

And, they have given everyone who was on the fence about buying one a couple of weeks notice to get a fully functional tag at a discount. Well done.

Snabbed one a few days ago. I haven’t used it in case I could have picked my color. Now, I can use it… not that I need to.

Actually, so did I. I won’t use it much (though I have a couple of times for some Dry Top events), but it’s nice to have just in case. This decision is a really nice bonus, I assumed I was just going to have an account bound blue one.

Yeah, basically that. I was content with an account bound blue one (have always “wanted” a tag, for no reason other than being a stupid dorito for silly/trolly purposes [trolly as in having fun, not trolling other players]), but I didn’t/amn’t (YES AMN’T) going to use it until the patch hits because I’m weird.

Esplen.3940:

Alga.6498:

Let me get this straight…
If I buy a commander tag, right now, that only cost 100g, can I use it more than just once, and on different characters too?
Also, if I buy a CT right now, which is currently blue, may I change the colour to red, yellow or purple later on once they’ve updated this?
Please, let me know!

Since this:
http://www.guildmag.com/command-tag-gamescom-2014/
is confusing me..

If you buy it now and use it. It’s only on that character. You will only have blue.

After the patch:

Whether or not you used it before the patch, when you use it, all your characters are now Commanders.

All your characters have all the colors and may swap them at will.

awh! I just used it on a character so I wont be able to use it with all of my characters or may change the colours now then?

It’s not implemented now.

You’ll be grandfathered in when they implement it.

Roybe.5896:

If you’ve bought more than three you can contact costumer support and get a refund.”

So just trying to work out logistics here. Say I have 3 tags and my friend has 1 tag. I spent 300g and they spent 100g. Having 1 tag with all colours (See http://www.guildmag.com/command-tag-gamescom-2014/ ) means spending 100g is enough for all benefits.

The question is, will there be a refund for the other 2? Or does my friend pay an extra 200g? And what does being “Grandfathered” in mean?

I’m aware my friend paying the 200g is never going to happen. I’m just trying to be crystal clear here on the way forward

phys.7689:

tolunart.2095:

What about all those threads about how Anet doesn’t listen and doesn’t communicate with their players? This must be a hoax. I simply can’t believe that a bunch of random angry people posting complaints on the internet can be wrong.

What it means is that bunch of random angry people can be right.
It also means that sometimes what they plan, may not be what the game needs.

I am happy with the quick response and extra work those guys did to solve things. I really think they could save a lot of time an energy by running more things by the intended playerbase.
Not like they should always listen, but they can at least know how something is going to be received.

And broken clocks still tell the right time twice a day. Anet devs have always shown the willingness to act quickly when necessary, and to have acted on this so quickly they must have gotten a lot of feedback from multiple sources.

The biggest problem is that a lot of people who post on the forums think the forum posts are a representation of the player base as a whole – it isn’t. Most players approach the game casually and don’t get as invested in the game as forum posters do, because it’s just a game. This is something you do for fun, it’s not a substitute for real life.

Many people see five different posts that support their position and think that this represents the majority of players. It clearly does not, and they continue to shout to the heavens that they’re being ignored, Anet doesn’t care about the game or the players, etc. Then on a handful of occasions the forums have aligned with other sources of data and the devs have moved quickly to make changes to the game when necessary, and the same individuals point to these things as proof that their views represent the majority. It’s not true, it just means that this time the devs (and perhaps a number of other players who are not active on the forums) agreed with them.

The devs have a responsibility to a much larger group than the vocal complainers on the forums.