CDI- Fractal Evolution

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

Studio Design Director

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I would worry that those Rangers that don’t do Fractals would feel left out. However i think this is a really interesting global reward idea so I will pass it on to the rewards team.

Thanks Wolfey,

Chris

Could you expound a bit on why this is an issue for you? There are pets that are available in a limited frame of areas and different level ranges, just like some weapon skins only drop in certain areas. If the difference between, say, a Jade Spider and a Cave Spider was purely cosmetic, then you’re not talking about vertical progression at all. The guy that has the Jade version has no advantage over the guy with the Cave Spider. All that’s going on here is cosmetic changes, and perhaps some bragging rights.

I honestly don’t see a difference between things like area specific Ranger pets and Fractal skins. Likewise, if players want WvW armor, they need to go to WvW. Or the massive amount of varied PvE that people need for Ascended gear. Or locking Cultural T3 behind a gold wall. They all require playing in a certain area of the game for more than a passing moment. In fact, I’d suggest that these are exactly the kinds of rewards that work for Fractals. It benefits the players that run them with a cosmetic benefit, without an imbalance. I believe that’s an excellent way to get people interested in the content without forcing them there.

I promise I’m not trying to be contentious here. I’d just like to get a firmer grasp on the how and why of rewards being matched with content.

Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

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Posted by: Wolfey.3407

Wolfey.3407

I would worry that those Rangers that don’t do Fractals would feel left out. However i think this is a really interesting global reward idea so I will pass it on to the rewards team.

Thanks Wolfey,

Chris

Could you expound a bit on why this is an issue for you? There are pets that are available in a limited frame of areas and different level ranges, just like some weapon skins only drop in certain areas. If the difference between, say, a Jade Spider and a Cave Spider was purely cosmetic, then you’re not talking about vertical progression at all. The guy that has the Jade version has no advantage over the guy with the Cave Spider. All that’s going on here is cosmetic changes, and perhaps some bragging rights.

I honestly don’t see a difference between things like area specific Ranger pets and Fractal skins. Likewise, if players want WvW armor, they need to go to WvW. Or the massive amount of varied PvE that people need for Ascended gear. Or locking Cultural T3 behind a gold wall. They all require playing in a certain area of the game for more than a passing moment. In fact, I’d suggest that these are exactly the kinds of rewards that work for Fractals. It benefits the players that run them with a cosmetic benefit, without an imbalance. I believe that’s an excellent way to get people interested in the content without forcing them there.

I promise I’m not trying to be contentious here. I’d just like to get a firmer grasp on the how and why of rewards being matched with content.

Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

Unless you plan on giving the fractal pets 5 stacks of Torment or 5 stacks of Agony, I don’t think it would be an issue. If you wanted to make it fair for everyone so no one has to enter fractals of the mists here are some ideas:
PVE:
(1) Earliest level you can tame = Personal Reward Level 5 (easy to obtain)
(2) Gem Store “Mist Menagerie”, under a guise that you’re funding further research
PVP:
(1) Automatically unlocked for pvp only, does not carry over to pve
(2) Requires a high enough rank to unlock (wolf/tiger/bear?)
WvW:
(1) Edge of the mists Menagerie, who ever controls it
(2) Stone Mist Castle Menagerie, who ever controls a fully upgraded SMC

Former PvP Forum Specialist
2015-2016
Fort Aspenwood

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Posted by: Dalanor.5387

Dalanor.5387

Chris, the tiers in the LFG tool will get fixed in the near future? It’s a bit confusing how tiers works actually after the Fractured update.

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Posted by: Malchior.5042

Malchior.5042

Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Hello Chris,

I take it you mean in high demand across all different development teams, such that it’s out of scope or not within sense at the moment to request artists to design a full set of armor to be acquired from only the fractals? That’s sort of the way I interpreted your response, given unique armor/weapons is always in high demand within the actual game world itself.

Also, I’ve sent you a forum PM regarding a conversation we had a couple weeks ago. Look forward to hearing your reply

Take care and get well soon!

Malchior Devenholm | Proud member of Zealots of Shiverpeak [ZoS] | Northern Shiverpeaks

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Posted by: Darmikau.9413

Darmikau.9413

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

But we get plenty of armor sets in the gem store? :/

Anyway, this might be a bit of a tangent, but I’d like a bit of clarification/discussion on:

I would worry that those Rangers that don’t do Fractals would feel left out.

What’s wrong with excluding rewards from players who don’t do specific content? The Underworld in GW1 had a spider pet which could only be obtained by doing the UW. There are pets right now that are only obtainable in the HoM. I don’t think exclusive rewards make people feel left out, I think they’re good design and let players feel special for acquiring certain items. The mindset of “Everything has to be available to everyone” is what I think turns off a lot of dedicated players. Which I suppose is fair if dedicated players aren’t your target audience, but that’s sort of not why I, personally, would make a game.

Edit: Got to the post about Ranger pets having abilities. That’s fair. But the same argument for weapons and armor still stands. You could also have the pets within Fractals have abilities which pets outside of Fractals have, the obvious difference being the Fractal animals are more prestigious. A Fractal dolphin pet could have an ability an overworld aquatic pet has, for example.

(edited by Darmikau.9413)

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

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Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Hello Chris,

I take it you mean in high demand across all different development teams, such that it’s out of scope or not within sense at the moment to request artists to design a full set of armor to be acquired from only the fractals? That’s sort of the way I interpreted your response, given unique armor/weapons is always in high demand within the actual game world itself.

Also, I’ve sent you a forum PM regarding a conversation we had a couple weeks ago. Look forward to hearing your reply

Take care and get well soon!

Hey Malchior,

‘I take it you mean in high demand across all different development teams, such that it’s out of scope or not within sense at the moment to request artists to design a full set of armor to be acquired from only the fractals?’

Correct.

I will check my PMs shortly.

Chris

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Posted by: Zyphent.2967

Zyphent.2967

Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Thats fair, just something else to put forth.
What about doing it like the Achievement armor, tying it to specific tiers.
For example, beating fractal 50+ lets you buy the helm, 60+ lets you buy the Gloves, etc.

This would both allow the team to take their time making it (release 1 piece with 10 Fractal levels in a single patch), as I doubt they have time to make and model a full armor set at once, while also providing more incentive to climb higher in Fractals.

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

Studio Design Director

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Is the reward team also looking into Fractals-armor? I would love to save up for a Fractals specific armor, like we used to do in FoW and UW back in GW1.

I shall pass this on to the reward team. Note the reward team doesn’t always have the chance to read this thread, many other teams do though hence me passing on suggestions etc.

Chris

Hi,

So we discussed this idea. The fact of the matter (and I should have been easily able to answer this) is that armor is in high demand across the game and thus for the time being it would be unlikely that we would see a fractal only set.

Chris

Thats fair, just something else to put forth.
What about doing it like the Achievement armor, tying it to specific tiers.
For example, beating fractal 50+ lets you buy the helm, 60+ lets you buy the Gloves, etc.

This would both allow the team to take their time making it (release 1 piece with 10 Fractal levels in a single patch), as I doubt they have time to make and model a full armor set at once, while also providing more incentive to climb higher in Fractals.

Hi Zyphent,

I will discuss the idea with the rewards team, specifically in regard to a slow burn creation of an armor set.

Thanks,

Chris

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

Studio Design Director

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Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Are you referring to Ascended weapon boxes in fractals?

Chris

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Posted by: Lilith Ajit.6173

Lilith Ajit.6173

Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Are you referring to Ascended weapon boxes in fractals?

Chris

He/She’s referring to a box of fractal weapons that lets you choose the weapon.

[ARES]
And all who stood by and did nothing, who are they to criticize the sacrifices of others?
Our blood has bought their lives.

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Posted by: Shinki.8045

Shinki.8045

It was confirmed by Regina that Fractal Weapon boxes aren’t obtainable until Fractal Level 51, after someone checked the API and noted none had dropped.

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Posted by: Wethospu.6437

Wethospu.6437

Oh, level 51? How convenient.

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Posted by: videoboy.4162

videoboy.4162

Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

Will you elaborate on how you feel about his idea to make the pets just be new skins, without any unique abilities?

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Posted by: Shadowmoon.7986

Shadowmoon.7986

Many of the fractal achievement seem somewhat bugged. I have had one guild member take 6 months of doing constant run to finally get the hot foot achievement after doing the requirement multiple time. After giving up she randomly got it one run. Currently I am running into the wall with the Shockwave skipper achievement. I have had perfect runs multiple time and it still fails. I’ve also gotten the weapons tester achievement after getting hit early on. It seems certain achievement seem to be rewarded at random, similarly to how the watchknights were behaving.
My solution, make the achievements player events that if they player succeeds they get a champ bag and if they fail they know the instant that they failed. This would help remove the guess work out of the achievements. Also it add replayablity to certain fractal by giving them a “hard mode” reward for redoing the achievement.

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

Studio Design Director

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Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

Will you elaborate on how you feel about his idea to make the pets just be new skins, without any unique abilities?

Personally I like that idea.

Chris

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

Studio Design Director

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Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Are you referring to Ascended weapon boxes in fractals?

Chris

He/She’s referring to a box of fractal weapons that lets you choose the weapon.

Ok thanks. I I wanted to ensure we were talking about the same thing.

Chris

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Posted by: Chris Whiteside.6102

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Chris Whiteside.6102

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Right I will be back later.

Thanks for a good discussion today.

Chris

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Posted by: Orpheal.8263

Orpheal.8263

Hi Orpheal,

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner.

I think we would not want to add another layer of complexity to fractals in terms of another branch but I would want to see us adding more lore to the fractals (ensuring this component is included as a wrapper with game play implications) should we create more.

Regarding the option to play with < or > 5 players, that is something I have asked Izzy to comment on so hang tight.

Chris

Hmm, I can understand you, that ANet wants to refrain from making Fractals anyhow more complicated, than neccessary, that you want them to be of quick access.

But I doubt it, that my idea would make Fractals too complex, if these kind of Lore Fractals that work like the BMP would be seperate Fractals and not some, that could appear randomly onto the Fractal Path of 3 Fractals, until you reach the final Fractal.

Think of my concept of Heroic Fractals more of a kind of multi-part Fractal, where you can progress in, like as if you were reading a book and if you collect enough Essences of Memories you can just unlock a new part of the lore tht will be then unfold for the player to explore, a new stage of the fractals lore to be played.

To stay honest, I want nothing more, than a replayable Lore of the 3 Novel books, especially the first 2 ones and I think, something like Heroic Fractals with multiple unlockable Lore Stages would be the best way to evolve FotM.
So if you think, this can be also done in a different easier way, then I’m all fine with that too
Too hear, that Izzy should make some comment on Fractals becoming playable with more, than 5 People is also nice to read

So I repeat my last question once.

And what about Books as reimplemented feature in general? (if not fitting for Fractals, maybe somewhere general in PvE instead, liek Dungeons again) puppy eyes
Do they count as making the game overcomplicated in regard of being a reward feature too, by giving your Art Teams also some nice work to do? ^^.

Whatever will be the answers to this posting, I really appreciate your very fast responses hats off

Personally I like the idea behind sub classes ~ quoted from Chris Whiteside

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

If Rangers can get something special (just for their Profession) in Fractals, what do the other 7 Professions get in Fractals that is just for them?

I don’t think Ranger are seldom found in dungeons because there are no special pet/skins to be found.

Just worry about putting incentives for just one Profession in places, regardless of the reason why.

Oh, and Chris, if you change the Wolf only in EB issue, that would be great, as that is the only pet I do not have. Thanks.

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Posted by: synk.8762

synk.8762

Hi,

I don’t think you are being contentious at all and you put forward a compelling argument. However we try where possible to seed core gameplay rewards across the game. It seems like we have a few inconsistencies in the live environment so I will discuss this paradigm with the rewards team.

This said Ranger pets have abilities and putting a unique pet in the fractals with say unique abilities could be a huge barrier to entry for some players and that is where my concern comes from. The fact is fractal skins do no change the way a player uses his character whereas a pet with unique abilities does.

I hope this provides some more insight.

Chris

Will you elaborate on how you feel about his idea to make the pets just be new skins, without any unique abilities?

Personally I like that idea.

Chris

Right, that’s more along the lines of what I was thinking — sorry I wasn’t more clear. I agree that placing abilities behind a wall, be it Fractals, or dungeons, or WvW, isn’t a great idea. I do believe having something of a trophy item that says “hey, look what I did” is a great lure for people to explore content. It also has a lot of precedent from GW1. Seeing a person in full Obsidian armor meant something, at least for the first couple years. They’d been through some of the hardest content in the game and brought something back, regardless of whether it benefited then mechanically. That certainly has an allure to a part of the player base. Reskinning pets with the same abilities would be a nice way to show off what you did, without a mechanical advantage.

As an aside, I think part of the issue with Fractal rewards is there’s no middle ground. You either get a glut of items (relics, rings, etc) or you’re chasing an illusive 0.05% drop (weapon skins), while tiring of the content and common rewards. Things like unique pets and armor/weapon skins could fill that void, and make players feel like they’re getting something for their accomplishments. Obviously that’s something that’s been addressed here (ad infinatum) and something you’re working on. I look forward to the results!

As someone who used to work in the art side of the industry, I know that models and textures don’t just show up on a truck at the warehouse. There’re hundreds of man-hours that go into making and testing these things, and as you say, demand is high. What about reusing what you’ve already made, and having skins appropriate to the Fractal type have a chance to drop? Aetherized skins in Aether Fractals, Fused skins in Dredge or Molten, etc etc. You could even make them account bound so as not to tank the market for BL scraps. I think something like this would keep your art and QA overhead low while providing that middle ground for people to keep coming back and looking for additional rewards.

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Posted by: videoboy.4162

videoboy.4162

If Rangers can get something special (just for their Profession) in Fractals, what do the other 7 Professions get in Fractals that is just for them?

I don’t think Ranger are seldom found in dungeons because there are no special pet/skins to be found.

Just worry about putting incentives for just one Profession in places, regardless of the reason why.

Oh, and Chris, if you change the Wolf only in EB issue, that would be great, as that is the only pet I do not have. Thanks.

An animal skin isn’t any different from a Weapon Skin. Pets are just a weapon for Rangers, so why not add in new animal skins to the game along with all the other weapon skins they’ve been releasing?

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

Then, why would it an incentive for Rangers? And how often do these ‘weapon skins’ drop? I thought one of the issues was the difficulty in getting weapon skins. Also, except for the Wolf from EB, almost any Pet Skin would be viable. I’m not really that familiar with the Weapon skins that drop in Fractals, but is any drop viable for every Profession, and build?

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Posted by: videoboy.4162

videoboy.4162

Then, why would it an incentive for Rangers? And how often do these ‘weapon skins’ drop? I thought one of the issues was the difficulty in getting weapon skins. Also, except for the Wolf from EB, almost any Pet Skin would be viable. I’m not really that familiar with the Weapon skins that drop in Fractals, but is any drop viable for every Profession, and build?

Because it would be the only place they could actually find a new animal skin? (for a bit, anyway) There’s already a set of Fractal Weapons, why not add an animal skin or two to that set? And an Engineer kit skin, since those are the only two classes that have weapons that they can’t change the appearance of.

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Posted by: Iason Evan.3806

Iason Evan.3806

Chris,

Any word on my Fractal Weapon Box question from yesterday? No hurry, just thought I’d ask since you are around at the moment.

Not yet. I will let you know as soon as I have discussed it with the team.

Thanks for the reminder.

Chris

Are you referring to Ascended weapon boxes in fractals?

Chris

I am referring to the Fractal Weapon Boxes. They were to contain Fractal Weapons in them. We get to pick the skin etc. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/No-fractal-skin-box-ever-dropped-Proof-API/first#post3323099 <—This thread is confirmation that they aren’t dropping, nor have we had a response as to why. As this is the Fractal CDI, I wanted to put my two cents in that my hope would be to see this fixed before any CDI works starts if any. This was a big selling point on your guys’ end for what the rewards would be in the “Fractured” update.

I just want to clarify that the Ascended weapon boxes are dropping. My guild has received a few in there, but the Fractal Weapon boxes are not yet. Just hoping they will be added soon or else there really isn’t a reason to leave the 20’s in level because of the fantastic amount of Karma we get for doing lower levels and the Fractal Weapons themseleves drop at a decent rate in the 20’s. The attraction of doing a level 40+ for me was the Fractal Weapon boxes. Without them, I don’t see the point of doing something that is harder, more time consuming and offers less in the way of reward.

Thanks for looking into this Chris. I really appreciate it.

Leader of The Guernsey Milking Coalition [MiLk] Sanctum of Rall

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Posted by: Ohoni.6057

Ohoni.6057

Hey Malchior,

‘I take it you mean in high demand across all different development teams, such that it’s out of scope or not within sense at the moment to request artists to design a full set of armor to be acquired from only the fractals?’

Correct.

I will check my PMs shortly.

Chris

Please don’t add any more rewards that can only be acquired via Fractals. That would only make me kinda want to do Fractals to earn them. But I TOTALLY don’t want to do Fractals because they take too long. I didn’t even bother to get all the Achievements that Fractal week because each Fractal Run took to long.

So if you do add more rewards to Fractals, make sure that you add ways to earn them that have nothing to do with entering Fractals, at least until you figure out a way to make Fractals shorter.

“If you spent as much time working on [some task] as
you spend complaining about it on the forums, you’d be
done by now.”

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Posted by: Nike.2631

Nike.2631

You could put one new Ranger pet in each non-Boss fractal and pretty neatly cover all of their pet families using nothing but existing stat lines.

  • Aetherblade Fractal: Holographic Watchdog (Blue ‘holographic’ style drakehound; Krytan Drakehound stats)
  • Battleground Fractal: Armored Devourer (Iron Legion style armor-plated devourer; Lashtail Devourer stats)
  • Cliffside Fractal: Circling Hawk (Golden hawk; Hawk stats)
  • Molten Furnace Fractal: Molten Spider (Molten Alliance-style armored spider; Cave Spider stats)
  • Snowblind Fractal: Partially-corrupted Moa (White moa with corrupt ice for plumage; White Moa stats)
  • Swamp Fractal: Spiny Drake (scaled-down/re-colored version of Champion Marsh Drake from that level; Marsh Drake stats)
  • Thaumanova Fractal: Hungry Anomaly (energy wisp; Boar stas)
  • Uncategorized Fractal: Prototype Stalker-Golem (Asuan tech stone/crystals on cat skeleton; Lynx stats)
  • Underground Facility Fractal: Rogue Ice Beast (Ice elemental style textures on bear skeleton; Polar Bear stats)
  • Underwater fractal: Ghost Jelly (All white/slightly translucent jellyfish; Blue Jellyfish stats)
  • Volcanic Fractal: Tame Destroyer Crab (destroyer crab; Carrion Devourer stats)

The question is do you make the pet always present or conditionally? While you could make it a random chance for the pet to appear, you don’t want the ranger holding up the group by delaying to check for a pet each time until they actually get it. What might be interesting is make the pet come out if you clear some portion of the fractal gracefully – either with a fast run or low damage/no hits or some other skill-based trigger.

“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.

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Posted by: Shinzuwa.1459

Shinzuwa.1459

While I havn’t played enough fractals to contribute to the discussion (I played once last week and enjoyed it very much) I must say that I really like the CDI initiative by Anet. It’s a great way to involve the community and it’s been a pleasure following the discussion.

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Posted by: Mad Queen Malafide.7512

Mad Queen Malafide.7512

Hi Zyphent,

I will discuss the idea with the rewards team, specifically in regard to a slow burn creation of an armor set.

Thanks,

Chris

I like this idea as well. I think a lot of players enjoy working towards an armor set, rather than seeing yet another armor appear in the gemstore.

Perhaps a controversial topic to bring up, but an in-game reward tied to the game play, is always better than an armor you just buy from the store. I realize having gemstore additions is important to keep production going. But it shouldn’t come at the cost of not having enough in-game rewards.

For example, I really liked the Witch-costume for Halloween. And that broom is the most awesome toy in the game. But would I have liked the costume better, if I could have earned it by completing quests in the game? Heck yeah! Of course that’s more fun!

I hope that the rewards team does not neglect in-game armors, in favor of gem store armors. It’s really important for the end game, to have things to work towards.

“Madness is just another way to view reality”
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-On3Ya0_4Y)

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

Putting pet/skins in Fractals is fine, just make sure they are accessible elsewhere (outside dungeons). Rangers are the least desirable in groups already; I imagine having something Ranger-specific in the run will make them even more so. Thanks.

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Posted by: Shinki.8045

Shinki.8045

If Rangers can get something special (just for their Profession) in Fractals, what do the other 7 Professions get in Fractals that is just for them?

I don’t think Ranger are seldom found in dungeons because there are no special pet/skins to be found.

Just worry about putting incentives for just one Profession in places, regardless of the reason why.

Oh, and Chris, if you change the Wolf only in EB issue, that would be great, as that is the only pet I do not have. Thanks.

It would be pretty neat if the class specific mechanics could get a mists-specific cosmetic update. Like a different Aegis for Guards, Fractal weapon-esque trailer animations for Warrior burst skills, Misty shatters for Mesmers, etc. etc.

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Posted by: dutchiez.7502

dutchiez.7502

I honestly don’t think putting class-specific rewards will do anything but annoy the people that like to have an effective party composition.

Nova [rT]

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

I honestly don’t think putting class-specific rewards will do anything but annoy the people that like to have an effective party composition.

Indeed.

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Posted by: Shinki.8045

Shinki.8045

I honestly don’t think putting class-specific rewards will do anything but annoy the people that like to have an effective party composition.

Easy enough to remedy by making the cosmetic item purchasable with relics, or on a character swap during a non-combat portion of the Fractal.

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Posted by: Wethospu.6437

Wethospu.6437

Pets and whatever won’t really make the content any better.

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Posted by: dutchiez.7502

dutchiez.7502

I honestly don’t think putting class-specific rewards will do anything but annoy the people that like to have an effective party composition.

Easy enough to remedy by making the cosmetic item purchasable with relics, or on a character swap during a non-combat portion of the Fractal.

There’s still the problem of why you would add rewards for one class but not another? Why not add something everyone can use like armor skins?

Pets and whatever won’t really make the content any better.

And that’s very true aswell.

Nova [rT]

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Posted by: Tobias Trueflight.8350

Tobias Trueflight.8350

There’s still the problem of why you would add rewards for one class but not another? Why not add something everyone can use like armor skins?

Pets and whatever won’t really make the content any better.

And that’s very true aswell.

I’d much rather have new armor outside of Fractals first? I mean, it was noted by Chris (I think) there’s a dearth of new armor getting added to the general game availability.

I would say having a non-random way of earning the Fractal skins would be a step forward from where it is now. I would say also if Fractals become disproportionately lucrative, there’s also pressure to partake in them even if people don’t really want to . . . due to how advantageous the loot becomes. Some people already see dungeons this way, as “required” if you want to make money.

(Personally, I don’t see it. I make enough money myself through normal play to fund normal activities and a modest bit of crafting. Sure, I’m not buying a precursor anytime soon but I’m not busking for Waypoint/repair fees.)

Just a note of caution to be thrown in there and repeated: I shouldn’t feel that I’m being held back from earning a large chunk of loot/cash by not doing something. Especially if I don’t want to do that. That leads to resentment over “having” to do it, or potential implications of Trading Post pricing.

Seeking assistants for the Asuran Catapult Project. Applicants will be tested for aerodynamics.

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Posted by: Bart Weird.9671

Bart Weird.9671

Of course you don’t like tht the hardest challenging content in fractals (lvl 80) could have been solo/duo’d most of the time, but was it really the reason to remove it? When do we finally see challenging content in fractals?..and i don t mean unavoidable agony which ticks for all your health whn entering combat if you don t have over 100 agony resistance.
I would rly appreciate some challenging content. Also make the mistlock instabilities random on each new fractal you can get, makes your experience at least a bit more exciting.

Hi,

I understand what you are saying in regard to instabilities but I really don’t understand the rest of the post. Could you take a little more time explaining what you mean please?

Chris

Well, it’s simple, atm the only challenge is farming enough cof to buy agony resistance to afk at the boss and push autoattack in a fullzerkspec, why do you spent time on designing unique boss encounters whn afterall u give pl enough agony resistance tht they don t even have to dodge. Pay to win shouldn t be the fractal mentality, i would rather have some rly hard encounters, which pl can challenge even if they use no ar at all, just bc they kno how to dodge and react to the enemy. The whole unavoidable agony is pointless (lvl 40,50etc) should i rly just play with the rich pl instead of pl who kno how to play? Whn you release fractals with an higher difficulty scale (thn fractal lvl 80 was before, which still was a walk in the kitten in my opinion) thn pls exclude those barriers,… thr r rly pl around who want challenging content and don t care about the rewards but pls gate thm behind skill and not behind how much cash you got.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sudhKI2v_sM
[Grawl Shaman Duo Scale 80]

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Posted by: Faux.1937

Faux.1937

To bad Anet you put into the game the +1 agony Res items.

I would have loved to see all Items that give agony taken away and just have AR as a reward for your account for more fractals you do and fractal achievements you’ve done. Or making it like the Magic Find, where you have levels and must do Fractals to up the AR%.

ALOT less clunky and much easier to deal with, manage and to understand.

Is there anyway you would go to a Magic Find type of system for AR instead of what we have now?

Hi Faux,

I have asked Izzy to discuss this with you.

Chris

Cant wait to see what he thinks.

SAB or RIOT

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Posted by: Nike.2631

Nike.2631

I honestly don’t think putting class-specific rewards will do anything but annoy the people that like to have an effective party composition.

Putting pet/skins in Fractals is fine, just make sure they are accessible elsewhere (outside dungeons). Rangers are the least desirable in groups already; I imagine having something Ranger-specific in the run will make them even more so. Thanks.

Making rangers desirable is a better fix than making semi-exclusive rewards not exclusive at all.

“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

Why would giving Rangers exclusive rewards make them more desirable? I can see Rangers wanting the exclusive rewards. I can’t see groups wanting Rangers in their party more just because the Ranger can get a reward they (the other party members) can not.

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Posted by: dutchiez.7502

dutchiez.7502

Why are we even talking about adding specific rewards for rangers? Because they are undesirable? Adding rewards exclusive to rangers won’t make them more desirable, it will only make the other members of the party feel annoyed because they have someone in their party that is intentionally handicapping them to get better rewards himself. It’s the Magic Find gear all over again.

Nova [rT]

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Posted by: Nike.2631

Nike.2631

((pulls at hair))

New pet skins in the fractals wouldn’t make them more desirable. FIXING THE #)%&) CLASS so its not a GIVEN that bringing one is a detriment would make them more desirable – and is something that needs to be done regardless of if anything new is ever done for fractals ever again. Its a much bigger, vastly more important problem that will take care of host of truly minor objections to them actually having some nice cosmetic rewards once in a while.

So lets just pretend that Rangers are worth a crap and allowed to play in fractals by their betters and see if there’s anything neat or fun comes of the brainstorming.

“You keep saying ‘its unfair.’
I wonder what your basis for comparison is…”
- Jareth, King of Goblins.

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Posted by: Inculpatus cedo.9234

Inculpatus cedo.9234

Or save it until after said fix is implemented.

Let’s talk about rewards that would be more amenable to the entire playerbase in Fractals, yes?

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Posted by: Mirta.5029

Mirta.5029

Why are we even talking about adding specific rewards for rangers? Because they are undesirable? Adding rewards exclusive to rangers won’t make them more desirable, it will only make the other members of the party feel annoyed because they have someone in their party that is intentionally handicapping them to get better rewards himself. It’s the Magic Find gear all over again.

Rangers are not handicap. Yes, their pets are stupid, but they can put out an awful lot of damage.

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Posted by: Romek.4201

Romek.4201

for rewards

how about let ppl choose all 10 fractal lvls 1 fractal skin they like and give this to the archievement window as permanent skins start at lvl 20+ ?

noone ever would have all and it would be something nice to progress

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Posted by: Spoj The Second.7680

Spoj The Second.7680

Well, it’s simple, atm the only challenge is farming enough cof to buy agony resistance to afk at the boss and push autoattack in a fullzerkspec, why do you spent time on designing unique boss encounters whn afterall u give pl enough agony resistance tht they don t even have to dodge. Pay to win shouldn t be the fractal mentality, i would rather have some rly hard encounters, which pl can challenge even if they use no ar at all, just bc they kno how to dodge and react to the enemy. The whole unavoidable agony is pointless (lvl 40,50etc) should i rly just play with the rich pl instead of pl who kno how to play? Whn you release fractals with an higher difficulty scale (thn fractal lvl 80 was before, which still was a walk in the kitten in my opinion) thn pls exclude those barriers,… thr r rly pl around who want challenging content and don t care about the rewards but pls gate thm behind skill and not behind how much cash you got.

While i agree unavoidable agony is a terrible gear gate for high level fractals. You are somewhat out of date with the game. Farming cof hasnt been a thing and hasnt been possible for several months now. Fractals are not afk facerolled in zerker. While the agony system forces us to gear for fractals and the agony damage is no longer a threat, we still have to dodge attacks and use skill and CC to survive the regular attacks in dps gear.

I think you should be a bit more constructive in how you post. But I will do that for you:

The forced agony checks at boss fractals and lvl 30,40,50 instabilities are silly. They simply force players to gear their characters in such a way that agony is no longer a threat and dodging agony attacks becomes less important (this takes away some skillfull play in many encounters). Fractals should be challenging but having a timegated gear check (agony resist) really takes a lot of potential out of the difficulty side. Before, you could fight your way up to 80 with no agony resist. This was a difficult and fun task to do and required minimal mistakes as any agony would instantly kill you. Its a shame this personal challenge is no longer available thanks to the forced agony checks at certain instabilities and shards.

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Posted by: dutchiez.7502

dutchiez.7502

((pulls at hair))

New pet skins in the fractals wouldn’t make them more desirable. FIXING THE #)%&) CLASS so its not a GIVEN that bringing one is a detriment would make them more desirable – and is something that needs to be done regardless of if anything new is ever done for fractals ever again. Its a much bigger, vastly more important problem that will take care of host of truly minor objections to them actually having some nice cosmetic rewards once in a while.

So lets just pretend that Rangers are worth a crap and allowed to play in fractals by their betters and see if there’s anything neat or fun comes of the brainstorming.

Yes, ranger should be changed to be better suited for certain types of content (dungeons/fractals), but so should other classes (necro, engineer). This, however, has nothing to do with improving fractals and I don’t see how adding rewards only for a class that isn’t played that much because it’s not that great is improving fractals in any way for people that don’t play ranger, and I don’t see why devs should waste precious resources on adding stuff like pet skins in the game that are only going to be used by a small percentage of the playerbase.

Nova [rT]

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Posted by: Bart Weird.9671

Bart Weird.9671

While i agree unavoidable agony is a terrible gear gate for high level fractals. You are somewhat out of date with the game. Farming cof hasnt been a thing and hasnt been possible for several months now. Fractals are not afk facerolled in zerker. While the agony system forces us to gear for fractals and the agony damage is no longer a threat, we still have to dodge attacks and use skill and CC to survive the regular attacks in dps gear.

Maybe you just play another game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sudhKI2v_sM
[Grawl Shaman Duo Scale 80]

(edited by Bart Weird.9671)

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Posted by: Spoj The Second.7680

Spoj The Second.7680

While i agree unavoidable agony is a terrible gear gate for high level fractals. You are somewhat out of date with the game. Farming cof hasnt been a thing and hasnt been possible for several months now. Fractals are not afk facerolled in zerker. While the agony system forces us to gear for fractals and the agony damage is no longer a threat, we still have to dodge attacks and use skill and CC to survive the regular attacks in dps gear.

Maybe you play an other game than i do

Please do explain.

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Posted by: deSade.9437

deSade.9437

I’m seriously biting my tongue [fingers] here as not to say what I really think. Big effort, I’ll do my best.
An improvement in the reward table, any improvement, is welcomed. As all ideas are. It shouldn’t be too hard to implement a few neat rewards, whether they’re class-based or not. Both would be better.
I don’t think any dev died of starvation at the desk when they released the reef drake, and at the time I don’t remember anyone complaining because “why did you give that to the rangers and we got nothing, you wasted your time and resources!!!”; I’m sure they’ll survive through the creation of a bloody dolphin, if they deem it appropriate. Their choice. Still, it’s true that if we’re talking about rewards, the implementation of other suggestions in this thread really needs a lot of (more) consideration. For instance, the idea of tokens+relics…
That doesn’t mean you can’t do both.
About improvements in the very structure of fractals and reworks at its core, eh… that would require so much time, so many resources, but an improvement in the gameplay would be the biggest reward possible. It’s good to hope they’ll do something about it, but while they work on it might aswell get something shiny.
I didn’t want to annoy anyone with the mental image of a little bearbow taming a destroyer crab. Wouldn’t ever want to encourage leeching, far from my intent.