Guild Wars 2

This is an idea I’ve raised before – it’s tedious going back into the home instance each day to farm the various nodes, etc we have in there. Unlike the open world, we don’t meet other people in there, we don’t encounter any monsters. It lacks the social nature or variety of the open world farming.

So, why not give us the option of hiring npc workers to farm our home instance and deposit the goods directly into our materials/bank? We would pay these workers some silver each day for their trouble, which would not only be a money sink but also give it some verisimilitude and let us concentrate on more interesting things. You don’t even need to create any animations. We don’t need to see the workers working. Just drop some mats in our bank and pay their wages each day at changeover. Just a thought.

Right… And then people would wait til just before reset to deposit their money into guild banks or mailed to alts, then pick it up after reset. Free labor, didnt pay a dime.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Right… And then people would wait til just before reset to deposit their money into guild banks or mailed to alts, then pick it up after reset. Free labor, didnt pay a dime.

IIRC, there is a limit of 500g per week to mail or deposit to guild bank. So can’t really do that, even if you wanted to.

SkyFallsInThunder.8257:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Right… And then people would wait til just before reset to deposit their money into guild banks or mailed to alts, then pick it up after reset. Free labor, didnt pay a dime.

IIRC, there is a limit of 500g per week to mail or deposit to guild bank. So can’t really do that, even if you wanted to.

It’s max 500 to receive, not mail. What if you have less than 500 gold being sent back and forth per week? And does it count if you send it off to an alt account and then hit return to sender? Or, you could always tie up all your money in fake buy orders in the trading post.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

verisimilitude

Thanks for making me look up a word, sheesh. lol

Doesn’t have to be a rent, could be gemstore services acquired that expires.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I don’t know, Zoltar. Doesn’t that sound like one of those auto-play games? Like you don’t even need to log in to gain wealth?

What if you are required to log-in to get that daily wealth?

See it this way, Gaile: the less time you spend doing daily “chores”, the more time you spend playing actual content (fractals, hot maps, sw, wvw, pvp, etc).

Besides, GW2 is a game about horizontal progression, and that means many things: guild halls, titles, skins, etc. and… account upgrades and convenience. Some people love that. So… why not? Will the economy break if you get instant instance wealth on log-in instead of spending 5 minutes on it? Especially if you take into account the costs for the nodes plus whatever a hired labour would cost to obtain.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Gaile Gray.6029:

I don’t know, Zoltar. Doesn’t that sound like one of those auto-play games? Like you don’t even need to log in to gain wealth?

What if you are required to log-in to get that daily wealth?

See it this way, Gaile: the less time you spend doing daily “chores”, the more time you spend playing actual content (fractals, hot maps, sw, wvw, pvp, etc).

Besides, GW2 is a game about horizontal progression, and that means many things: guild halls, titles, skins, etc. and… account upgrades and convenience. Some people love that. So… why not? Will the economy break if you get instant instance wealth on log-in instead of spending 5 minutes on it? Especially if you take into account the costs for the nodes plus whatever a hired labour would cost to obtain.

How about an option to have NPCs opening chests at jumping puzzles then. I have 4 on this account parked at a JP for a daily chest opening. Having 4 NPCs do it instead and I pay them a small amount upon logon instead of spending the time doing it myself means more time doing other things.

Sounds like WoW garrisons…please no.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

How about an option to have NPCs opening chests at jumping puzzles then. I have 4 on this account parked at a JP for a daily chest opening. Having 4 NPCs do it instead and I pay them a small amount upon logon instead of spending the time doing it myself means more time doing other things.

I know you’re being sarcastic, but jumping puzzle chests come at a cost (you have to get there, and you can’t leave them without repeating the whole thing).

Instance nodes have no real challenge and come at no meaningful cost (outside of the huge amount of money you spent for them, which only helps my point). A hired labour here would exist for the sake of convenience.

Gaile Gray.6029:

Well, we do get those daily log-in rewards.

For free, while hired labours would have to be unlocked at a price. Knowing Anet and their past practices, players would probably spend more money on the hired labour than they would on getting that money back (this is already the case for infinite gathering tools and even for instance nodes), so my counter-argument to your initial point still stands: It would be mostly a convenience feature, a nice QoL thing to have, not an economy-breaking one.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

How about an option to have NPCs opening chests at jumping puzzles then. I have 4 on this account parked at a JP for a daily chest opening. Having 4 NPCs do it instead and I pay them a small amount upon logon instead of spending the time doing it myself means more time doing other things.

I know you’re being sarcastic, but jumping puzzle chests come at a cost (you have to get there, and you can’t leave them without repeating the whole thing).

Instance nodes have no real challenge and come at no meaningful cost (outside of the huge amount of money you spent for them, which only helps my point). A hired labour here would exist for the sake of convenience.

Not sarcastic. I’m pointing out similarities. The JP don’t come at a real challenge or cost. The 4 chars came with account purchase and I got them up there once and that’s where they stay for a daily harvest. When I need to visit my bank or a merchant I go to WvW or PvP and then return to the chest.

It’s a difference in degree, not a difference in kind. Your suggestion of a hired NPC to farm your instance is the same as an NPC to farm chests. The only difference lies in where and what they farm.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I understand, Diogo, and thanks for the extra info. BTW, I just purchased the instance nodes — couldn’t resist after seeing someone’s fully-spiffed-out personal instance. And I knew I was going to be going there daily after getting the Wintersday Gift Tree, which I had to have — it’s just lovely!

I know it’ll take me a long while to get the money back from my investment, but it does make going out there extra fun now.

You should try sharing your instance with somebody, Gaile. I do it with my girlfriend, and that makes going to the instance even funnier and more satisfying. It gives that feeling that your effort and money is contributing to help other people, which is a great feeling to be had. It’s also fun to use the tonics you get from wintersday tree (do you still get them? I don’t know much about the updated drops) and then both end up playing costume brawl there for the fun of it.

In that way, a hired labour could actually have a serious flaw: your friends wouldn’t probably be able to use it and you would probably still have to manually take them there. But there’s a simple solution for even that: put the npc inside the instance, so that anyone could use it.

…And this talk is making me wish for a instance housing system and a way to officially share your home with your partner. Guild halls are too big and expensive for 1 or 2 people.

Farming wood/ore is playing the game for me. It may be slightly repetive, but I do it between other game content.

Just out of curiosity, how is this different than having a bot farm for you? The only real difference I can see is that it’s a bot bought from the gemstore rather than a bot from an outside program.

Tell me about it, I’ve had the nodes for like 2 days and I already cba to farm them. Haha

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Just out of curiosity, how is this different than having a bot farm for you? The only real difference I can see is that it’s a bot bought from the gemstore rather than a bot from an outside program.

Highly limited in scope. You have a maximum of one of each type of node that it can access.

Sariel V.7024:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Just out of curiosity, how is this different than having a bot farm for you? The only real difference I can see is that it’s a bot bought from the gemstore rather than a bot from an outside program.

Highly limited in scope. You have a maximum of one of each type of node that it can access.

Difference in degree again and not in kind. It’s still a bot farming for you even if you call it an NPC and even if you buy it from the gemstore.

For example, someone could have a bot that only sits at one rich node and harvests once daily. It’s still a farming bot even if that’s all it does. Make that a gemstore NPC that harvests the node/instance once daily. What’s the difference?

Gaile Gray.6029:

DiogoSilva.7089:

Gaile Gray.6029:

Well, we do get those daily log-in rewards.

For free, while hired labours would have to be unlocked at a price. Knowing Anet and their past practices, players would probably spend more money on the hired labour than they would on getting that money back (this is already the case for infinite gathering tools and even for instance nodes), so my counter-argument to your initial point still stands: It would be mostly a convenience feature, a nice QoL thing to have, not an economy-breaking one.

I understand, Diogo, and thanks for the extra info. BTW, I just purchased the instance nodes — couldn’t resist after seeing someone’s fully-spiffed-out personal instance. And I knew I was going to be going there daily after getting the Wintersday Gift Tree, which I had to have — it’s just lovely!

I know it’ll take me a long while to get the money back from my investment, but it does make going out there extra fun now.

There are more benefits than just gold/hour~

Like finishing that gathering daily in under 5 minutes, instead of roaming zones. Or sneaking into the guild hall and using the Scribe table to duck out of waypoint fees when swapping tools, then having those tools save tons of money and earning me lots of loot. (Even if sprockets have gone down roughly 40% since a few months ago :P)

Wait, you would rather spend copper/ silver than to spend actual time to farm the mats in your home instance???

Thank you all for your input. My responses below:

@Aidan Savage – sorry, I don’t understand the scenario you’re describing. I’m not disputing it, I just don’t understand it yet. Need to think about it some more.

@Draknar – here come some more words.. sry

@Gaile – we’ve all seen people vociferously argue that this is a multiplayer game. Farming the home instance is the opposite of that. It’s mostly a single-player experience, it’s safe and it’s boring. Who farms the quartz in the queen skritt’s chamber every day? Many do, because it’s exciting and it’s social. Sneaking in there, grabbing the quartz before somebody aggroes the skritt. That’s how farming should be. Same with Malchor’s leap, fighting risen with others while collecting trees and ores. That’s the gaming we want, and that you want us to have.

@DiogoSilva – Thank you. You’ve explained what I meant better than I did. And your other points are exemplary.

@Just a flesh wound – a ‘bot’ is just another npc charged with a task. The difference is that ‘bot’ is usually used in the derogative sense to describe an npc that performs a task that we consider unethical or against the rules of the game. An npc created by anet for a specific task according to their rules and conforming to various checks and balances, not to mention a monetary cost, would be just another tool for the player, not a means of cheating the game.

@Rauderi – good points. The home instance farming npc should be exempt from the dailies. Other checks and balances could apply.

@Renkencen – I would like the option. It would be a player’s discretion whether the cost was worth it. You may want the mats, and be willing to pay for them. I’m just trying to get out of the house more.

The core issue here is that there’s nothing social or exciting about the home instance. The only reason we go in there is for the monetary/material rewards. It almost feels…. gr.. gri… no, I won’t say it. It just doesn’t feel like playing a social multiplayer game.

So here’s a crazy idea: what if there was a node you could collect which spawned a random monster in your home instance when you entered, once a day? Imagine the juicy tension of going in there not knowing if you’ll be facing an ooze or a mordrem sniper. Imagine battling a pack of pocket raptors in the streets of Salma! A new monster every day.

And if we’re being really crazy, I’m imagining a collection which catalogues all the monsters you’ve battled in your home instance. But that’s just my pokemon-ocd talking.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

Farming the home instance is the opposite of that. It’s mostly a single-player experience, it’s safe and it’s boring. Who farms the quartz in the queen skritt’s chamber every day? Many do, because it’s exciting and it’s social.

LOL sure yep, that is SO exciting. Also, not everything in the game should be social. We should have our own space. Just like in real life, you have you social time and you have your private time. With the home instance you can invite others to come in if you wish, which makes it social if we want it to be.

Gaile, don’t forget to do the “No Mask Left Behind” achievement in Auric Basin for the Aurillium Node.

For the OP, did you say “hire”??? Don’t we have Charr’s for slave labor? I’ll show them the bidnes side of their own whips! jk Though how about golems to work our home instance? I want my personal R2-D2 rolling around my home instance. It would be adorable!

DeWolfe.2174:

For the OP, did you say “hire”??? Don’t we have Charr’s for slave labor? I’ll show them the bidnes side of their own whips! jk Though how about golems to work our home instance? I want my personal R2-D2 rolling around my home instance. It would be adorable!

Aw, dangit. See, now there’s actual themes to fit the idea. Each race gets their own appropriate hire:

Charr: Gladium
Asura: Lab Assistant
Human: Work Release Prisoner
Sylvari: Tender
Norn: …Bored Drunk Guy?

I think this would be a great spot to jump off on a discussion on what we would like to see in our Home Instance that isn’t there yet?

I can see omitting the NPC labor, but we definitely need more “bling” for our Home Instance.

I get adding in nodes and such via gem Store…but we could add other things like…Crafting Stations(even if it is one that all Crafters could use), a Merchant to buy and sell stuff(like get that Ori Pick when you notice you only have 2 hits left on yours.), access to personal Bank, etc. by doing things in game maybe via an achievement(just keep it within reason).

I’m sure many will come up with more elaborate things…but I am thinking on simple convenience things. maybe as a complex thing a Portal to your Guild Hall (yes I know you can do that via the Guild Panel…but it would be cool.)

Maybe this needs its own suggestion thread?

Sure. But I want option to hire cat-eared maid.

Terkov.4138:

Sure. But I want option to hire cat-eared maid.

Female Miqo’te Charr in a maid outfit hype.

Terkov.4138:

Sure. But I want option to hire cat-eared maid.

Your wish is my command.

cat eared maid:

I would prefer an account upgrade that allowed for faster gathering. The permanent harvesting tools speed up harvesting, but mining and logging are always slow (quickness will speed up the animation but not the actual gathering).

I wouldn’t mind being able to automatically load into my home instance when entering the game. Probably would lead to faster load times but I know this would probably never happen with the current instance system.

DeWolfe.2174:

We should have our own space. Just like in real life, you have you social time and you have your private time. With the home instance you can invite others to come in if you wish, which makes it social if we want it to be.

But.. do you really go into your home instance for private time? What do you do in there? It’s not like there’s a pinball machine or a pool table to play with. (Gaile – suggestion: add a pinball machine or pool table) And with all those npcs hanging about, is it really private? I can feel them watching me when I go into my home instance to read my PlaySylvari magazine. (For the articles, of course!)

You could do this like the guild hall upgrades, hire a miner, a lumberer, etc, for a some materials, maybe a mastery/skill line for how many staff you can manage, … plenty of room to make this a fun thing for people to do.

May as well chuck in a butler, maid, chef, and bouncer while you are at it

How about a Silvari dancing troupe for your home instance? Limited time, 952* Gems in the store!

Don’t forget next years Winter’s Day bonus, and don’t be a Grinch about it!

• Price may be subject to variation! :P

Also make it possible to tie balloons to monsters to extract them and recruit them as your staff.

To be honest, I think your idea is pretty good, I never can be bothered to enter my home instance everyday. But adding more incentive to go there might be a better solution.

luzt.7692:

Also make it possible to tie balloons to monsters to extract them and recruit them as your staff.

To be honest, I think your idea is pretty good, I never can be bothered to enter my home instance everyday. But adding more incentive to go there might be a better solution.

A ZOO for your home instance, only 4500 Gems. LIMITED time only!

Of course once you buy the zoo you still need to go an capture the animals!

codiac.5642:

luzt.7692:

Also make it possible to tie balloons to monsters to extract them and recruit them as your staff.

To be honest, I think your idea is pretty good, I never can be bothered to enter my home instance everyday. But adding more incentive to go there might be a better solution.

A ZOO for your home instance, only 4500 Gems. LIMITED time only!

Of course once you buy the zoo you still need to go an capture the animals!

I LOVE IT. Gotta catch ’em all!!!

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

codiac.5642:

luzt.7692:

Also make it possible to tie balloons to monsters to extract them and recruit them as your staff.

To be honest, I think your idea is pretty good, I never can be bothered to enter my home instance everyday. But adding more incentive to go there might be a better solution.

A ZOO for your home instance, only 4500 Gems. LIMITED time only!

Of course once you buy the zoo you still need to go an capture the animals!

I LOVE IT. Gotta catch ’em all!!!

The Guild Hall Zoo will of course be much larger and hold bigger things you need to capture in the new Guild-emon Guild Missions!

Aidan Savage.2078:

Right… And then people would wait til just before reset to deposit their money into guild banks or mailed to alts, then pick it up after reset. Free labor, didnt pay a dime.

Doing that every day for 1 silver? You have strnage priorities…

So would I have to pay my workers more because they are in a Norn home instance which is huge? You could yell in one corner and not be heard in another, let alone 3 or 4 floors up. The Norn Home is a convention hall.

If you fart in the Human home instance everyone smells it.

Tumult.2578:

So would I have to pay my workers more because they are in a Norn home instance which is huge? You could yell in one corner and not be heard in another, let alone 3 or 4 floors up. The Norn Home is a convention hall.

If you fart in the Human home instance everyone smells it.

Yes you will, but don’t fret! There will be a brewery option in gem store, 3752 gems, and you pay Norns in ale, so you will be able to eventually generate their pay yourself!

And here I thought it was going to be a suggestion to hire service NPCs (banks, BL agents, vendors, etc.) for your home instance.

They could re-use their Guild Halls technology for the home instance Upgrades and unlockables that add more interactivity, options and life to it.

Gaile Gray.6029:

I don’t know, Zoltar. Doesn’t that sound like one of those auto-play games? Like you don’t even need to log in to gain wealth?

People do that with scripts anyway. That and the Trading Post merchants, which ruin the economy of the game. I’d go on but there’s a never-ending list that won’t get fixed.

i was thinking about hiring npcs to farm my home instance, but it was just too difficult to arrange a 401k program, health benefits, and paid time off for them.

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

I can feel them watching me when I go into my home instance to read my PlaySylvari magazine. (For the articles, of course!)

Gotta go with the PlayCharr and PlayNorn, much more… “interesting” articles.

Bristingr.5034:

Zoltar MacRoth.7146:

I can feel them watching me when I go into my home instance to read my PlaySylvari magazine. (For the articles, of course!)

Gotta go with the PlayCharr and PlayNorn, much more… “interesting” articles.

I dunno, being down to just a fig leaf is much more blush-worthy in PlayBough.

every day I look up which area has a daily harvesting, go to that city, ask /map if anyone wants free home nodes, make a lfg for free home nodes. you’d be surprised how few people join me :P like 1/3 the time I give up after a minute and do it solo.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Just out of curiosity, how is this different than having a bot farm for you? The only real difference I can see is that it’s a bot bought from the gemstore rather than a bot from an outside program.

It is different in the same way that buying gems to convert to gold is different from going to third party gold sellers. It could generate revenue for the game.

That said, who knows if it would offset any development costs.