Guild Wars 2

Hello there Collin and all your krewe

I just wanted to say that along with loving your game very much I’ve been becoming a little tired of the communication issues I feel your current policy has.

I just saw this post today and I thing it was worth sharing. It’s quite long, but please read it. It summarizes what many of us feel about the current policy.

I know you can do better! Deep inside we all have faith in your capabilities!

Yeah, Arena Net have always been the company that has struggled with communication. I remember that was an issue even with Guild Wars 1. In all honestly since GW2 launch it has not gotten better, but has actually gotten worse.

There is a bit I would like to expand on what was in that blog. It’s both communication and trust that are another real issue. Arena Net for some apparent reason believes they are putting out the same quality work as Blizzard or Valve. So they use that as a basis on how they communicate with their fans directly (which is very little). Therein lies the problem. Both Blizzard and Valve built their empire on the quality of their work which has shown throughout the years (minus a few in the recent years). That alone builds some massive trust. Compared to Guild Wars 2 which has had as many positives as negatives, with all that content they have delivered on. So trust is negated because the quality of work is not there yet. While the game looks nice; some of the game mechanics can be questionable, repetitive, buggy, or simply bland. Nevertheless they will always believe in the glass being half full.

kittening seriously WHO CARES

Why are we even having a discussion about trust? Why do you need to trust a company developing a game?? Do you ask the same questions about all your entertainment? Do you feel like you need to trust television studios? Do you have an issue with how much information they release about their products, or the amount of communication they have with their fans? NO! You don’t even THINK about that when you’re watching TV, so please can anybody tell me, how is this different?!

Video games are entertainment media. You invest exactly as much as you want into them, until they no longer satisfy you, then you move on to something else. What commitment do you have to this game that you need to feel trust for the developers? You’re free to use your leisure time anywhere you want and re-appropriate it at will. There is no logic in this.

That post is a fantastic one and shows why ANET’s communication policy is hurting the game more than helping it. The information is at a lack of a better word, snail pace.

Andred.1087:

kittening seriously WHO CARES

Why are we even having a discussion about trust? Why do you need to trust a company developing a game?? Do you ask the same questions about all your entertainment? Do you feel like you need to trust television studios? Do you have an issue with how much information they release about their products, or the amount of communication they have with their fans? NO! You don’t even THINK about that when you’re watching TV, so please can anybody tell me, how is this different?!

Video games are entertainment media. You invest exactly as much as you want into them, until they no longer satisfy you, then you move on to something else. What commitment do you have to this game that you need to feel trust for the developers? You’re free to use your leisure time anywhere you want and re-appropriate it at will. There is no logic in this.

Well, I can only speak for myself. But games in general demand some kind of commitment that other entertaining media doesn’t.

When you finish watching that episode or reading that book, you only wonder what’s next. What will be the next plot twist. With games, specially with MMOs, when you finish your first run of the game, you will run it until the replayability wears off, investing much more time in active interaction with the media than with other media.

The fact that you have to play an active role in the media in order to experience it makes people prone to be more passional about it.

I do enjoy books, movies, series, comics, graphic novels and other media. But only with books and games I need to trust the source in order to keep going, since enjoying the media represents an effort. This happens to me more with games than with books though. I think that’s because books represent a lower effort.

I wanna hear Woodenpotatoes thoughts on this article!

I want to hear Anet Thoughts on this subject. This is the current View on a subject that could be so so so easily fixed. Please can we get a Dev to just say that Anet has read this post?

Glad to see this thread. I was going to post a topic with a link to it until I noticed it. Very good, thoughtful blog post and summarizes I suspect a good portion of the player base attitude toward ANet’s “non-communication” policy.

@EoNenmacil: No you cant. ANet’s communication policy prohibits that.

Simply put… a company does NOT owe you transparency. Period. They are under no obligation to discuss ANYTHING with you.

You are NOT a shareholder. You are NOT an executive. You are the CUSTOMER. They owe you nothing but the product they put in front of you. Is it nice to get more? Is it courteous? Yes. Does it make you feel good to be “involved”? Absolutely.

If you don’t like Arena.net’s policy with communication… LEAVE. Walk away. I don’t know when that became a dismissal, because it’s not. Your power, the customer’s power, is in your wallet. Walk away. THAT’S how you deliver your message.

Link to the reddit discussion as it has a lot of varying thoughts expressed on it as well.

As for the argument “they owe the community nothing”, yes, that is true. However, silently leaving doesn’t give reasons, nor does it truly help in the long-term.

As someone interested in seeing the game succeed (even if I don’t have a literal financial stake in it), it is better that I say why I don’t like something, and what it causes than to remain silent and go away. Only a lot of people leaving have a similar effect, and that’s assuming that ArenaNet is able to tease out why they left.

In essence, I’m communicating what I see in as clear a means I can, rather than simply walking away without a word. And based on the responses I’ve gotten, I’m not alone.

chemiclord.3978:

Simply put… a company does NOT owe you transparency. Period. They are under no obligation to discuss ANYTHING with you.

You are NOT a shareholder. You are NOT an executive. You are the CUSTOMER. They owe you nothing but the product they put in front of you. Is it nice to get more? Is it courteous? Yes. Does it make you feel good to be “involved”? Absolutely.

If you don’t like Arena.net’s policy with communication… LEAVE. Walk away. I don’t know when that became a dismissal, because it’s not. Your power, the customer’s power, is in your wallet. Walk away. THAT’S how you deliver your message.

So this means you can’t give the company constructive critisism? Since so many people feel this way, perhaps by pointing out the issue, Anet can be proactive about it instead of losing customers.

A lot of players have been loyal customers and do not want to walk away. Theres nothing wrong with them trying to create change before deciding to walk away. It’s worth a shot even though I doubt it will make much of a difference.

Not to mention this is a forum. And this is what forums are for.

chemiclord.3978:

Simply put… a company does NOT owe you transparency. Period. They are under no obligation to discuss ANYTHING with you.

You are NOT a shareholder. You are NOT an executive. You are the CUSTOMER. They owe you nothing but the product they put in front of you. Is it nice to get more? Is it courteous? Yes. Does it make you feel good to be “involved”? Absolutely.

If you don’t like Arena.net’s policy with communication… LEAVE. Walk away. I don’t know when that became a dismissal, because it’s not. Your power, the customer’s power, is in your wallet. Walk away. THAT’S how you deliver your message.

Not quite sure why you’re being so vehement with your post. Many people, myself included, have already done just that. Players were excited by the reveal of HoT, discussed it, made suggestions, and waited for more. There hasn’t been more. Those who have felt it worthwhile have continued to make what they consider salient point. Many of us have simply started playing other games, and putting our money into those other games.

As there is a large time investment with MMOs in particular, players expect open communication to at least some extent with those who provide the product. If you look around, even horribly managed games like Star Wars: The Old Republic provide yearly road maps, notes on upcoming releases, and in some cases public test servers where what’s coming next can be seen. Even those with completely closed testing are proactive enough to make sure their community is informed and excited about the product. At this point, even the most diehard GW2 fans are probably idling pretty low when it comes to any excitement about HoT because there is nothing to keep the discussion going. Some players simply choose to articulately voice their thoughts on the matter; it’s not a strain to let them do so.

chemiclord.3978:

Simply put… a company does NOT owe you transparency. Period. They are under no obligation to discuss ANYTHING with you.

True. Just as there’s no obligation on being corteous to other people. But if you want something from someone, it’s dumb not to be. While Anet is in no way obligated to be transparent, their current communication policy is simply not wise. In this, a good communication policy is very much a basic courtesy.

chemiclord.3978:

Simply put… a company does NOT owe you transparency. Period. They are under no obligation to discuss ANYTHING with you.

You are NOT a shareholder. You are NOT an executive. You are the CUSTOMER. They owe you nothing but the product they put in front of you. Is it nice to get more? Is it courteous? Yes. Does it make you feel good to be “involved”? Absolutely.

If you don’t like Arena.net’s policy with communication… LEAVE. Walk away. I don’t know when that became a dismissal, because it’s not. Your power, the customer’s power, is in your wallet. Walk away. THAT’S how you deliver your message.

The problem with the “just walk away” message is that the company already has the money. And they are asking for more and more and more and more. Walking away ensures that they also get someone else’s money. Staying engaged might make a few people think twice about spending their money before they realize how things work.

Beyond that as customers we have come to expect a certain level of service from past experience with other companies. Some good, some bad but you can bet that we as consumers will generally do everything in our power to let it be known when a company doesn’t meet the most minimal expectations that most people have.

Before every company became a global entity they relied on things like outstanding customer service, fair pricing, and general good reputation in their local areas to keep them going. Now? Now those things are pretty much meaningless because business has figured out that a slick advertising campaign is a better use of time and resources than keeping existing customers happy. In large part because the pool of potential buyers is enormous compared to what it used to be.

Very informative read, thank you for posting it here. While I commend your effort, the truth is that the topic has been beaten to death over and over and over and over. It turns out that it is quite futile to discuss the lack of communication with someone who only listens to what he wants to hear.

Thorough, informative and excellent post by Tough Love Critic, read it prior to it appearing here, but hopefully this post makes one or two people at Anet aware of it as well!

I don’t want to hear anyone’s thoughts on this lol

I want Anet to spend their time on the game, and not waste it ‘cultivating a sharing environment of trust’ or whatever the kitten it is that you guys want. STOP TALKING AND MAKE MORE GW2, that’s what I want lol

I’d like to add that today’s specialization’s post made me regain some of the faith in their communication capabilities.

The article said many times that things were subject to changes. It was like “this is what we have now, but it might change”. That’s the kind of information we expect from you, Arena Net.

Good job with that!

At this point, I’m not even sure what to say. The blog post linked in the OP is spot-on, true, but ANet’s upper management has demonstrated such an appalling lack of concern that I don’t know if it even matters anymore.

I have such a like/loathe relationship with this company. Although I like most of the aspects of the game, being a GW2 player is such an aggravating experience.

I would like to be able to feel good about being a customer, but when I think about my experiences related to ANet, the first feelings that pop up are not the warm-fuzzy nostalgic ones. My most immediate and visceral reaction to thinking about ANet is one of frustration, of knowing that no matter what is or isn’t changed, I’ll be kept in the dark until the very last possible second. And, following that, if what emerges from their top-secret war room is not in the least bit what I wanted, I know that any follow-up questions will be treated exactly the same way.

It’s exhausting to continuously have to hammer at them for information, watching threads grow and grow, watching what started out as a simple question gradually transform into the forum equivalent of an angry mob brandishing torches and pitchforks as the weeks, months, or even years roll by without even the common courtesy of basic acknowledgement.

It’s frustrating to watch them shadowstep away from certain topics (I’m looking at BOTH of you, “Traits” and “Traits Part 2”).

It’s tiring to watch them use their infinite endurance bar to dodge away from admitting a mistake (I’m looking at you, “Personal Story Restoration update”).

Before the release of GW2, I considered myself a loyal ANet customer. I pre-ordered the game, anxious to get started on my journey. Fast forward to today. You know why I play GW2?

Because my computer can run it. That’s it. Edit to add: and honestly, I’m not even playing it now. Haven’t logged in in quite some time, and have no intention to until I see some kind of change coming from ANet. Not holding my breath, however.

Sooner or later, I’ll get a newer, better, shinier computer and I’ll have my pick of available MMOs on the market. And do you think I’ll stick with a company that I only associate with frustration and negative feelings? Doubtful.