Guild Wars 2

I don’t understand why one of the current top fantasy MMOS still does not have a test server for large patches. There are so many good reasons to have one and literally 0 reasons not to have one, unless you think that spending money to make the game better is a bad thing.

It would allow for better player feedback on patches before it hits live, and more collaborations between players and developers on patches, to avoid the balance catastrophe that has been HOT, or really just any balance patch in general that seems like the people who came up with the changes had no interaction with the payers that beg for actual balance instead of executing classes and OPifying others.

It would also allow for a lot less of the one week after the patch madness of constant data killing bug fixes, ( not everyone has access to unlimited internet so it would be a great PR thing and whatnot)

If this game is to ever be Esports like ANET dreams, it needs better balance, and for that you need a test server, and you need to actually get involved with your player base and collaborate with them on balance patches.

Discuss maybe, i dunno, just throwing this out there

From what I’ve seen from certain youtubers, fansite owners and top clans – they do. Unfortunately, it’s all closed off so us regular folk don’t get in.

As for balance, test servers won’t help that. We found plenty in the HoT beta and pointed it out… they just didn’t take notice of any of it, probably due to the expansion being rushed through because people were fed up of living story. I’d love to see some better balance, so I know where I actually stand with my gear, but I don’t see it happening. =/

Ahh, well if its private then that defeats the purpose of having a public test realm, and if they do use it they cant use it very well because there are so many bugs with every patch and update, example smite condition clearing 1 condi instead of two with this recent patch. One would assume that they would you know, test the things they are doing before they dump it on the live servers.

Aslo during the HOT beta tests, people who didnt have access to the beta still had to download all the beta files , and that may not be an issue to some but if you dont have access, and you have limited internet data per month, thats another big issue IMO

I guess my point is if they have one they dont seem to use it

Well they listen, for sure. The reall question is, when. What my experiences are so far is that theres definatly people searching the forums. But only once every so often (wich is the problem) they check the forum when they do a balance patch, but they only check it like a week or something beforehand, seeing all the problems that where discussed that week.

You can see this in the way how anet is balancing, since they are obviously doing stuff the community wants. But generally very well argumented posts are ignored, and in my opinion not because they dont care, nor because they are selective. Its because they simply arent reading the forums at the time.

This is just a theory of mine tho, so take it with a grain of salt. So far this seems to be the case for ele.

possibly, whatever they do it certainly is not collaborating with the community to get proper balance results, bugs me that they want this game to be esports so badly but think they can do it without a public test server and at least bi weekly balance changes untill things stop being so, well all over the place

ex: lets nerf rev aa dmg to promote skilled play!

buffs teef aa dmg so now teefs can spam 1 and do stupid high dps with just autos

Rift had a PTR and look at where that got them.

league has a ptr and look where it is in terms of esports,
wow has a ptr and look how long that games was hailed as the king of mmos
eve has a ptr and look how well balanced/ awesome that game is ( i do play it, i also play this because you cant smash dragons with a hammer in eve )

the majority of the problem seems to be the lack of willingness to collaborate with players on balance issues. Having a PTR would help that significantly

Xanthin.2814:

league has a ptr and look where it is in terms of esports,
wow has a ptr and look how long that games was hailed as the king of mmos
eve has a ptr and look how well balanced/ awesome that game is ( i do play it, i also play this because you cant smash dragons with a hammer in eve )

the majority of the problem seems to be the lack of willingness to collaborate with players on balance issues. Having a PTR would help that significantly

Because no one in wow every complained about balance issues. lol

Xanthin.2814:

league has a ptr and look where it is in terms of esports,
wow has a ptr and look how long that games was hailed as the king of mmos
eve has a ptr and look how well balanced/ awesome that game is ( i do play it, i also play this because you cant smash dragons with a hammer in eve )

the majority of the problem seems to be the lack of willingness to collaborate with players on balance issues. Having a PTR would help that significantly

I have been with the game for 3 years and in that time they have implemented quite the few changes I personally liked. That being said I believe that if they had a PTR many of the problems they currently are suffering from would have been brought to the fore much quicker. Addressing these problems earlier is to the benefit of everyone BTW!

I firmly believe at this point we are just to be good little boys and girls. Eating what is handed to us without question, and that to me sounds like someone in power is unwilling to open their work and minds to criticism. Mind you I have also been posting on these forums for equally as long so I cannot say I am surprised.

Vayne.8563:

Because no one in wow every complained about balance issues. lol

No, but WoW never had this 48h after releasing a patch (and expect more to come):

VaLee.5102:

Vayne.8563:

Because no one in wow every complained about balance issues. lol

No, but WoW never had this 48h after releasing a patch (and expect more to come):

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Bug Fix:

• Fixed a server crash.

Bug Fixes:

General

• Fixed a client crash.
  * When each player in a raid enters combat, their boon prioritization will be locked in based on the composition of the subgroup they are currently in. That prioritization will not change until the player has left combat, even if their subgroup composition changes while they are in combat.
  * Added messaging for swapping squads in the Enhanced Squad UI.
  * Fixed the Shatterer’s defiance bar text.

Skills and Traits:

• Necromancer:
  * Wells: Fixed an issue that caused these abilities to go on full recharge when interrupted.

• Dragonhunter:
  * Wings of Resolve: This ability is no longer able to be activated in midair.

• Warrior:
  * Wild Blow: Fixed an issue that caused Wild Blow to not remove all weakness.

• Thief:
  * Flanking Strikes: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to not have a reduced cooldown when paired with Trickster.
  Staff Autoattack—Staff Strike, Staff Bash, Punishing Strikes: Increased the damage by 36%, 15%, and 33% respectively.

• Ranger:
  * Moment of Clarity: The effectiveness of this trait has been reduced from 100% stun and daze durations to 50% stun and daze durations.

• Druid:
  * Ancestral Grace: This ability is no longer able to be used in midair.

• Elementalist:
  * Ride the Lightning: This ability is no longer able to be used in midair.

• Engineer:
  * Static Shot: Fixed a bug that prevented the correct number of confusion stacks from displaying when the Chemical Rounds trait was equipped.

• Guardian:
  * Shield of Courage: Added text to the effect description to indicate the active block.
  * mite Conditions: Fixed an issue that was causing this skill to remove only 1 condition instead of 2.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue in the “Defeat the Marmox Packleader and his Pack” hero challenge that prevented the Veteran Marmox Packleader from spawning.
  * Squads can no longer be used in PvP matches and activities.
  * Fixed a bug preventing certain party sizes from advertising in LFG.
  * Fixed a collision issue that was blocking access to the Stronghold of Ebonhawke vista in Fields of Ruin.
  * Ranger:
  * Healing Spring: Fixed an issue that prevented this skill from triggering after the trap was placed.
  * Thief:
  * Guarded Initiation: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to grant bonus vitality.
  * Guardian:
  * Wings of Resolve: Fixed a bug that caused this ability to be affected by movement modifiers while underwater, or when paired with the Soaring Devastation trait.

Bug Fixes:

• Items
  * Superior Rune of the Trooper: Fixed an issue that caused some shout skills to cleanse conditions incorrectly.
  * Fixed an issue that could prevent object markers from being properly removed when the object leaves the visibility of all squad members.
  * WvW Capture and Hold guild missions have had their timers increased to 1 hour.
  * Dolyaks in Eternal Battlegrounds have had their movement speed increased.
  * Fixed a bug that could cause the warning message for launch pads to erroneously display for players who had trained the Glider Basics Mastery.
  * Fixed an issue that allowed players to kill the Mossman in the Fractals of the Mists with underwater combat.
  * Mesmer
  * Feedback: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to use ground targeting while submerged. When used underwater, this skill will now cast on your current target.
  * Ranger
  * “Search and Rescue!”: Fixed an issue that could prevent some players from gaining access to this skill.

I don’t know if WOW has ever seen that or not. Maybe WoW has that many bugs and doesn’t fix them as fast.

As for the server crash fixes, the server technology here is hands above anything on WoW. It probably needs to be watched more carefully because servers are created as needed here. They’re not fixed servers.

On the other hand WoW has to come down for maintainence every couple of weeks for four hours and you have to wait to patch.

WoW has had plenty of bugs and bad decisions. Some of them have gone on for a long time. Do you remember the death knight? How long did that nonsense go on for? Why didn’t the PTR pick that up?

I imagine that if ArenaNet thought a test server was at all useful and the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, then we would have one. I doubt that ArenaNet is so altruistic that they would spare the players the anguish and the tedium of hunting down the bugs if there was any benefit in shifting the load onto willing and unpaid shoulders. The fact they they don’t have one could be that they are ultra secretive and want to hug it all to themselves, or they just don’t think it is worth the hassle.

VaLee.5102:

Vayne.8563:

Because no one in wow every complained about balance issues. lol

No, but WoW never had this 48h after releasing a patch (and expect more to come):

Show Spoiler

hide spoiler

Bug Fix:

• Fixed a server crash.

Bug Fixes:

General

• Fixed a client crash.
  * When each player in a raid enters combat, their boon prioritization will be locked in based on the composition of the subgroup they are currently in. That prioritization will not change until the player has left combat, even if their subgroup composition changes while they are in combat.
  * Added messaging for swapping squads in the Enhanced Squad UI.
  * Fixed the Shatterer’s defiance bar text.

Skills and Traits:

• Necromancer:
  * Wells: Fixed an issue that caused these abilities to go on full recharge when interrupted.

• Dragonhunter:
  * Wings of Resolve: This ability is no longer able to be activated in midair.

• Warrior:
  * Wild Blow: Fixed an issue that caused Wild Blow to not remove all weakness.

• Thief:
  * Flanking Strikes: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to not have a reduced cooldown when paired with Trickster.
  Staff Autoattack—Staff Strike, Staff Bash, Punishing Strikes: Increased the damage by 36%, 15%, and 33% respectively.

• Ranger:
  * Moment of Clarity: The effectiveness of this trait has been reduced from 100% stun and daze durations to 50% stun and daze durations.

• Druid:
  * Ancestral Grace: This ability is no longer able to be used in midair.

• Elementalist:
  * Ride the Lightning: This ability is no longer able to be used in midair.

• Engineer:
  * Static Shot: Fixed a bug that prevented the correct number of confusion stacks from displaying when the Chemical Rounds trait was equipped.

• Guardian:
  * Shield of Courage: Added text to the effect description to indicate the active block.
  * mite Conditions: Fixed an issue that was causing this skill to remove only 1 condition instead of 2.

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue in the “Defeat the Marmox Packleader and his Pack” hero challenge that prevented the Veteran Marmox Packleader from spawning.
  * Squads can no longer be used in PvP matches and activities.
  * Fixed a bug preventing certain party sizes from advertising in LFG.
  * Fixed a collision issue that was blocking access to the Stronghold of Ebonhawke vista in Fields of Ruin.
  * Ranger:
  * Healing Spring: Fixed an issue that prevented this skill from triggering after the trap was placed.
  * Thief:
  * Guarded Initiation: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to grant bonus vitality.
  * Guardian:
  * Wings of Resolve: Fixed a bug that caused this ability to be affected by movement modifiers while underwater, or when paired with the Soaring Devastation trait.

Bug Fixes:

• Items
  * Superior Rune of the Trooper: Fixed an issue that caused some shout skills to cleanse conditions incorrectly.
  * Fixed an issue that could prevent object markers from being properly removed when the object leaves the visibility of all squad members.
  * WvW Capture and Hold guild missions have had their timers increased to 1 hour.
  * Dolyaks in Eternal Battlegrounds have had their movement speed increased.
  * Fixed a bug that could cause the warning message for launch pads to erroneously display for players who had trained the Glider Basics Mastery.
  * Fixed an issue that allowed players to kill the Mossman in the Fractals of the Mists with underwater combat.
  * Mesmer
  * Feedback: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to use ground targeting while submerged. When used underwater, this skill will now cast on your current target.
  * Ranger
  * “Search and Rescue!”: Fixed an issue that could prevent some players from gaining access to this skill.

Comparing GW2 response times to bugs and fixes to similar games I play or used to play, I’ll take this game hands down. I haven’t played WoW, but several other MMOs with PTS, and all of them had a similar amount of bugs and glitches with each release, with the only difference that it usually takes/took weeks and a several-hour server shutdown for them to fix them.