Guild Wars 2

“Question about dual pistol mesmers.
Colin: You guys can go around the table and name your profession and one weapon that you think is weaker than the rest and it’s totally the case. We need to try and make those close to on par with the other weapons. And there’s always going to be one that someone perceives as the best. If it’s a choice like, “well I like double daggers better,” and, “I like staff better.” That’s okay – we want that. But if it’s just no one uses dual pistol mesmer because it just sucks? Those are clearly obvious ones that we need to go after first."
- from an interview with Colin.

Does anyone else see something… off, here?

I mean, if you don’t even know the basics of what weapons each class can use, how can you lead a development team and expect them to effectively balance a game?

Feel free to jump in with something I may have missed, but this just doesn’t sit right.

Source: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/news/1034-qa-with-colin-johanson-part-ii/

Did I miss a patch where they added main hand pistol skills for mesmers or something?

SkeeLd.2164:

Did I miss a patch where they added main hand pistol skills for mesmers or something?

That’s the point.

what a juicy fail lol. Now if they gave us a pistol for main hand in under 24h i’d be very happy but this is dreaming, no new weapons in the next 3 years…..

Well, it could be a typo, but after seeing how it’s not the only thing that stands out in that interview, I have my doubts. I mean, he first says this;

So I gather the intention is not to allow players that have been in WvW for a long time to have more power than than someone who’s just coming in for the first time.

Colin: Correct.

And then immediately goes on to say this;

So you guys are potentially aware of that issue.

Colin: Yeah, I think that kind of goes against our core design philosophies so we would never want to do that. We need to make sure that you’re more functional but not more powerful.

My gripe with what he says here, is how can we trust him when Arena Net totally went against their “core design philosophies” with ascended gear?

….

I didn’t quite facepalm, so much as drop my head into my hands to hide my facial reaction. I just….wow. I don’t really know what to say here.

This isn’t something you just casually get wrong.

Am I missing something? I’m doing a search for “Pistol” in that site and Part 1 linked and can’t find anything.

I am hoping it means that mesmers get a main hand pistol tmr :P I would so go for the quip then!

I think though it was just an example and maybe he just picked the wrong profession. I don’t see a huge deal with it.

^ Stop teasing, all classes would love some new weapon choices =) Or some new drop downs on skills to replace them (look at 6-0, add some to 1-5 =) Do this and retain and or regain Brohanson status!!!

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

Thanks for the reply, Colin. Though the overreaction over the internet is always highly amusing. Not everyone thinks the devs are completely clueless and grasp at every scrap of information in order to confirm their biases. I swear!

Nothing beats my dual longbow Ranger!

Ill put my fist weapon warrior against your double pistol warrior!

Ursan.7846:

Thanks for the reply, Colin. Though the overreaction over the internet is always highly amusing. Not everyone thinks the devs are completely clueless and grasp at every scrap of information in order to confirm their biases. I swear!

I don’t think they’re clueless, I just think they demonstrate on a regular basis that they don’t always know what they’re doing.

BIG difference. :p

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about "dual pistol mesmer" as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

*applause*

Next time I want Colin’s response on a thread, I’ll quote something he said out of context first!

I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that you didn’t say “oh, you didn’t know? we added that last week in the bank sale and mesmerpwn patch”

also, I’m still upset I can’t pull a “I am not left handed” though :<

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

Hah. Thanks for the response.

Ursan.7846:

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

Thanks for the reply, Colin. Though the overreaction over the internet is always highly amusing. Not everyone thinks the devs are completely clueless and grasp at every scrap of information in order to confirm their biases. I swear!

You mean the overreaction where I clearly ended the post by requesting that someone please prove that what I was posting was, in fact, erroneous?

Yeah. My mistake for asking for clarification before jumping to conclusions. That was my bad.

boggle

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

Ok so you play but said conditions would be too powerful with infinite stacking yet players have shown conditions actually do less damage than burst over time regardless of a cap

ColinJohanson.2394:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

Oh, so it was the other guy (the one interviewing you) who hasn’t played the game before.

So we should really be blaming the interviewers for discussing a game they don’t know much about. Fair enough. I’ll redirect my not-quite-facepalm to them instead, since if they’re interviewing about a particular game, it would certainly help to know about the game first.

But I guess that never stopped G4.

Though, casual question for ya, Colin….you do realize that condition damage and direct damage are just alternate forms of providing damage, and that one isn’t necessarily inherently more powerful if they both produce equal damage over a different span of time, right?

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

So is this a Yes/No/Maybe to Mesmers getting a pistol option for their mainhand anytime soon?

Bluebird.1890:

You mean the overreaction where I clearly ended the post by requesting that someone please prove that what I was posting was, in fact, erroneous?

Yeah. My mistake for asking for clarification before jumping to conclusions. That was my bad.

boggle

Haha, quite defensive aren’t we?

My comment was not really directed at your post. But some of the other responses in this thread definitely drew a chuckle out of me.

I feel like it wouldn’t be too tough to implement Pistol Main Hand for Mesmers.

Slot 1 (auto): Infused Bullet; inflict a random condition on target foe.
Slot 2: Shoot to Thrill; Fire a bullet that grants two stacks of might for six seconds; 3s recharge.
Slot 3: Quickdraw; Rapidly shoot your foe three times. Final shot summons a clone.

Ursan.7846:

Bluebird.1890:

You mean the overreaction where I clearly ended the post by requesting that someone please prove that what I was posting was, in fact, erroneous?

Yeah. My mistake for asking for clarification before jumping to conclusions. That was my bad.

boggle

Haha, quite defensive aren’t we?

My comment was not really directed at your post. But some of the other responses in this thread definitely drew a chuckle out of me.

Right. Aggressive is funny, but passive aggressive isn’t. Got it.

double-pistol Warrior??
Does this mean I can finally play a double-flamethrower engie!?

Penguin.5197:

double-pistol Warrior??
Does this mean I can finally play a double-flamethrower engie!?

you’ve been able to do that for ages, and then they added more, engis are now just katamaris made of fire

Seriously, have you ever done any public speaking OP?

Colin’s explanation aside, if you’ve done any significant amount of public speaking, you’ll have said some stupid things from time to time.

It’s no indication of whether you know your topic or not. People make too much of this kind of thing.

Gibson.4036:

Seriously, have you ever done any public speaking OP?

Colin’s explanation aside, if you’ve done any significant amount of public speaking, you’ll have said some stupid things from time to time.

It’s no indication of whether you know your topic or not. People make too much of this kind of thing.

Allow me to pull an excerpt from the end of the post for you:

“Feel free to jump in with something I may have missed,”

You must have just skipped it. No worries. That’s how people get misquoted, right?

If they are they must be ignoring the issue’s in the game, see so many broken issues they refuse to address. GAME is great but in my view its going to garbage , fix stuff if your playing so much and quite blind siding it.

The interview was transcribed from an audio recording of a lunch session. Just prior to the quote they were talking about adding other weapons. At first reading I thought this could have been a person who simply got a question in a bit late. The other possibility is a person jumping in on the “let’s make weapons more interesting” segment with something they thought would be cool. Colin’s interpretation, given context, and decision to just keep going with his train of thought are completely understandable.

Overreacting fans overreact.

Calcifire.1864:

Penguin.5197:

double-pistol Warrior??
Does this mean I can finally play a double-flamethrower engie!?

you’ve been able to do that for ages, and then they added more, engis are now just katamaris made of fire

I’m not satisfied until I’m wielding one in each hand! (Then I can wear those gem store shades too while I’m at it)

Tachenon.5270:

Nothing beats my dual longbow Ranger!

I’ll trade dual bows for a rifle on rangers!

Red Falcon.8257:

Figurative examples are used to explain a concept much like metaphors.
If one tells you that you move as gently as a T-rex inside a jewelry, it doesn’t mean T-rexes exist and they go in jewelries, it’s to make a point.
Unless you have Asperger’s syndrome it should be pretty obvious to understand.

as someone who has AS, you’ve got me wracking my brain trying to figure out what “move as gently as a T-rex inside a jewelry” could possibly relate to >_<

Adding on my previous post, I’m not really sure that taking this aggressive, demanding, hyper-critical stance toward Anet as a general way to deal with them is any effective.
It’s actually detrimental as they lose willpower to communicate with us if every time they talk their words are twisted, distorted, decontextualized in every way to be used against them.

Don’t be making threads complaining about lack of communication if every time they communicate you throw smack at them like this.
Some people like me would really like to hear Anet more but I feel they might be unwilling to do so if some people twists their words against them.

Ezmode.4279:

Tachenon.5270:

Nothing beats my dual longbow Ranger!

I’ll trade dual bows for a rifle on rangers!

http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/01/27/episode-1087-exalted-feat/

relevant :P

Calcifire.1864:

Red Falcon.8257:

Figurative examples are used to explain a concept much like metaphors.
If one tells you that you move as gently as a T-rex inside a jewelry, it doesn’t mean T-rexes exist and they go in jewelries, it’s to make a point.
Unless you have Asperger’s syndrome it should be pretty obvious to understand.

as someone who has AS, you’ve got me wracking my brain trying to figure out what “move as gently as a T-rex inside a jewelry” could possibly relate to >_<

I’m not exactly sure why he implied that people with asperger’s couldn’t understand the concept of a metaphor to begin with. Not sure he understands the disorder :|

Red Falcon.8257:

-snip-

Yes, having some communication as opposed to the total void of communication in the past is a good first step. However, it’s only one step, that doesn’t mean the journey is finished. You don’t stop trying to learn how to drive a car once you’ve figured out where the gas pedal is, unless your intention is to drive through your garage door.

Now they need to work on effective communication. Not giving us two diametrically opposed replies to the same question, for example.

Bluebird.1890:

Calcifire.1864:

Red Falcon.8257:

Figurative examples are used to explain a concept much like metaphors.
If one tells you that you move as gently as a T-rex inside a jewelry, it doesn’t mean T-rexes exist and they go in jewelries, it’s to make a point.
Unless you have Asperger’s syndrome it should be pretty obvious to understand.

as someone who has AS, you’ve got me wracking my brain trying to figure out what “move as gently as a T-rex inside a jewelry” could possibly relate to >_<

I’m not exactly sure why he implied that people with asperger’s couldn’t understand the concept of a metaphor to begin with. Not sure he understands the disorder :|

it differs, only the more extreme cases take everything literally, for most it’s just a “why would a t-rex be in jewelery anyway?” and then proceed to try and rationalize the saying in case it comes up later

I read it as “move as gently as a t-rex in a jewellery store”, similar to the “bull in a china shop” saying. In other words, if you were a t-rex in a jewellery store, you would not be moving gently at all; you would be clumsy and break everything.

Hahaha so glad Colin got to reply to this before I did. As I too was going to say look at your quote! HE did not ask the question he was replying to it, blame the dummy that asked the question! Honestly to post this to try and make the Anet team look bad after all the hard work they put in only makes yourself look as stupid as the actual person who asked about “dual wielding pistol mesmers”. Just sayin’ :P

Lol, nothing like actually getting designers and devs commenting on posts. Wish more games had this going on.

On a tin foil hat related topic, clearly Colin accidentally said pistols because the new expansion will be using them. I’ll see your dual pistol warrior, and raise you 1 dual Asura wielding Charr Warrior.

Give my Engi a Char-zooka and I’l bring it to this imaginary battle. No better yet give me one of those deployable sniper rifles!

The two weapons I would love to see in the game are main hand pistols for mesmers, and rifles for Engineers (I know what you are about to say and no, you’re wrong. We can’t use rifles. We can use rifle skinned shotguns. I want a RIFLE. Shoulder shooting, capable of doing full damage at medium range, non-splash damage rifle. )

“Yeah, I think that kind of goes against our core design philosophies so we would never want to do that.”

Change cometh my friends.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Since the actual question was never quoted, which is always fun if you’re going to get called on something, I’ll clarify for you as mentioned in another thread:

Yeah just for clarity, someone asked about balancing various under-used weapons and said something about “dual pistol mesmer” as an example, I figured that’s what he calls off-hand pistol and answered using the same verbiage asked. I’ve found travelling abroad, as well as across the fan base everyone uses different terms for part of the game, people still ask me all the time about our quest system for example, it’s easier to just respond with the terms they use so they understand.

I’m well aware mesmers can’t dual-wield pistols, we’ve only been working on it for 6 years now If there was double-pistols, my Mesmer would whoop you in PvP with them though, just sayin.

Off to play my double-pistol Warrior!

Nice try on the save. But when I’m being interviewed about something I made, I’d make sure that everything I said accurately portrays it the light I want it in. You’re not tech support helping Grandma with her “thing-a-ma-bob” to get the “doohicky” installed. Talk about bad business. You’re supposed to be clarifying and showing that you know what’s going on and what you’re doing about it, not make it easier for the interviewer (who isn’t the one reading you responses) to understand the “what’s its” and “who’s its”.

Pennry.9215:

Nice try on the save.

He gave a perfectly reasonable reply. Kinda funny that you’d rather insist he’s just covering his kitten than accept it.

Or as you and your ilk might say: “Why so bitter, bro? Troll more, bro.”

Almost thought this post was from something i had missed actually asking players to ask for the weakest weapon on their character to be upgraded in an upcoming patch.

I was going to go to that post and link every forum post in the engineer forums about how weak and slow pistols have been since launch

Thank god Colin replied. Now that’s all cleared up!