Guild Wars 2

Ok so I’m a diehard fan of ANet and GW/GW2. I grinded my HoM up to 45/50 and I’ve already put in over 1300 hours on GW2. God knows how much I’ve spent on gems for things like armors, the special event RNG boxes, the harvesting tools, etc. All in all, I don’t regret it one bit because it’s still the best value for my money. I don’t buy other games unless it’s a Steam sale and then it’s just one or two, because most of the time I devote to myself and video games, it’s on GW2.

So after all this, I ask, is this really it? Or are we missing something? The birthday gifts seem empty. I don’t care for it not being the same as GW with the set of mini’s and the RNG. I’m ok with it just being a new way of doing things. I can accept that. But even so,

a) We get a mini. Everyone does. Who wanted Jenna? Who CARES about her?

b) The birthday boost. Ok, that’s nice I guess. I would have preferred something useful like maybe one of the weapon skins from all the past events. Make it account bound so I can’t sell it but it would have been nice.

c) The scroll. I don’t know why but it just seems so .. dumb for lack of a better word. We can only use it to reach lvl 20? I’m sorry but that’s just a wasted opportunity to make so many people and just have it +20 levels. I would have loved that immensely. I don’t think you realize just how much. I’m always putting off starting a new character/class because the thought of having to lvl from 0 to 80 again is just so deterring.

All in all, I accept the birthday gift. Thank you ANet, I love your game and I hope you continue to make progress but please, next time, think a bit more. Two small changes would have made this gift 100 times better. Instead of a preset mini, make it random. Or give us a choice of who we want at least. Maybe give us a choice of a mini mentor from the storyline like Forgal or Tybalt. And secondly, change the way the scroll works. People love your game, please don’t do these things that seem so thoughtless.

If you really think a birthday gift makes that much of a difference, I guess you’re right. I don’t see the birthday gift as anything special.

Most games don’t have them at all. The scroll, account bound is nice, because I have a whole bunch of characters so I can have that buff for days on end. When I make a new character, I get to bypass the starting zone, which isn’t such a bad thing either.

Is this the absolute best birthday gift ever? Not by a long shot. Is it a big deal?

Not to me.

Of all the things people are complaining about, this one matters least to me.

I’d much rather complain about things like stability during the events, or not getting credit for some achievements randomly.

I guess I see it differently than you.

Vayne.8563:

Of all the things people are complaining about, this one matters least to me.

I’d much rather complain about things like stability during the events, or not getting credit for some achievements randomly.

I guess I see it differently than you.

Normally, I’d agree – but this just seems to be yet one more content release that wasn’t well thought through, has bugs, and is generally underwhelming. Believe it or not, I found (and still find, to some degree) character birthdays in Guild Wars exciting. You never knew what you were going to get, and there was always the chance of it being something pretty cool. Moreover, if you wound up with 2 of something, you could trade. Or even collect them all if that’s your thing.

This just didn’t feel very special. You’re right in that many games don’t even do birthdays, but they did them well in Guild Wars. In fact, I even kept alts around just for the birthday presents. I don’t see the point to that here. Even birthdays aren’t alt-friendly in GW2.

Now of course, ArenaNet has no obligation to make anyone feel special. But they did have an opportunity, and when you can do that for a customer, you really should.

This whole thing just reflects on them as not really caring about their game or community any further than as a business. And if you’re just interested in doing business without all that community fluff, well, maybe making a game isn’t the best choice.

I think that’s why people are feeling disappointed. Deep down inside, it was yet another case of excitement building up over time, only to have that balloon popped by an apparently oblivious ArenaNet.

Chuo.4238:

Vayne.8563:

Of all the things people are complaining about, this one matters least to me.

I’d much rather complain about things like stability during the events, or not getting credit for some achievements randomly.

I guess I see it differently than you.

Normally, I’d agree – but this just seems to be yet one more content release that wasn’t well thought through, has bugs, and is generally underwhelming. Believe it or not, I found (and still find, to some degree) character birthdays in Guild Wars exciting. You never knew what you were going to get, and there was always the chance of it being something pretty cool. Moreover, if you wound up with 2 of something, you could trade. Or even collect them all if that’s your thing.

This just didn’t feel very special. You’re right in that many games don’t even do birthdays, but they did them well in Guild Wars. In fact, I even kept alts around just for the birthday presents. I don’t see the point to that here. Even birthdays aren’t alt-friendly in GW2.

Now of course, ArenaNet has no obligation to make anyone feel special. But they did have an opportunity, and when you can do that for a customer, you really should.

This whole thing just reflects on them as not really caring about their game or community any further than as a business. And if you’re just interested in doing business without all that community fluff, well, maybe making a game isn’t the best choice.

I think that’s why people are feeling disappointed. Deep down inside, it was yet another case of excitement building up over time, only to have that balloon popped by an apparently oblivious ArenaNet.

I don’t know. A lot of people seem to really like this event. You can say all you want, this is just another event, but I’m seeing full servers, overflows, people really getting into it.

In fact, I’d go as far to say that this has been a very well received update in general.

That isn’t to say there are no bugs. That isn’t even to say the birthday gifts are underwhelming (which they are)…but the upgrade itself seems to have been very well received…in spite of the bugs.