Guild Wars 2

Tin-foil hats levels: all time high!

But still a good read(no sarcasm), always liked a conspiracy

Internet + Tinfoil + Slow day before the holiday = MADNESS!

Impressive.

15 char.

I wonder if that Mayan calendar works in Tyria too

Worry increasing.

LOL, so it was Nexon in the grassy knoll?

Haha, this post is great.

Thumbs up!

“By creating this strategic relationship, both Nexon and NCsoft strengthen their commitment to deliver unrivaled gaming experiences to users (grinders) around the world.”

This is … just too much. If all that is right I’m not worried. I’m relieved. It means I can quit this game and never come back and rely on all themepark games becoming utter trash in the name of profit.

haha well I will admit that earlier when I learned the JP was named “Under New Management” I had a big “hmmmmmmm” moment. Didn’t know what 4373 stood for, thanks for that. It does seem like a big shift has taken place, that’s for sure.

I was going to post something insightful and got a error. They are already among us.

I take back what I just said. ANET might actually be going overboard on these changes to prove a point.

Tower Guard.5263:

I was going to post something insightful and got a error. They are already among us.

Same thing happened to me lol

Thanks for this, was a fun read!

Tin foil hat successfully deployed.

I love a good conspiracy theory, and kudos to ArenaNet for being so cleaver if true. Though the final stage of any peaceful revolution is noncooperation, as fans and clients we can only do so much [see my sig]; ArenaNet, the path to repair is in your hands now. You know what you must do.

I suspect that if this thread is locked or deleted then…

Support ArenaNet’s true vision, follow me to the ‘promised’ land: delete to support the only path for Guild Wars II.

/wink

You should repost this on
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/2-tyrian-assembly/
before it gets deleted :-|

Would be such a shame to loose this one!

Loumy.7841:

You should repost this on
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/forum/2-tyrian-assembly/
before it gets deleted :-|

Would be such a shame to loose this one!

Its already there.

I so love conspiracy theories! They do tend to amuse me.
That being said +1 on this thread.

So, were this true… What help can we give them?

… Also, to add fuel to the tinfoil… Shouldn’t the mods curtail conspiracy threads, not just change their titles? O.oooooo…

Jairyn.6913:

So, were this true… What help can we give them?

I thought exactly the same.

Jairyn.6913:

So, were this true… What help can we give them?

We can quit playing the game

Seems out there, yet possible all at the same time…

Fun read regardless!

Now if they’d just add tinfoil hats to the Gem Store, we’d all know for sure

Ragman.1690:

Jairyn.6913:

So, were this true… What help can we give them?

I thought exactly the same.

Reference my first post, it is the only active path a client has, if we win we’ll be fully compensated.

I’m pretty sure “Under New Management” refers to the fact that the JP takes place in what was supposed to be the Consortium’s resort proper, which is now overrun with karka and native wildlife. If you talk to the NPCs, they tend to try to euphemistically describe everything going wrong to make it sound much better (one talks up their “state-of-the-art maritime transportation system” or similar as a roundabout way to tell you the asura gate is broken so you’ll have to take the boat).

Their blatant obsession with profit-making was what got them into trouble with the karka in the first place, which is why the names are a joke on money. Most golems have “codes” like that: a golem belonging to the Terranexic krewe, which focuses on earth-based research, is named RCK-7550 (“rock”), and SCRAP-BOT is treated like an acronym even though…that’s exactly what they are. It’s a corny joke.

I know I’m being a killjoy and not having a sense of humor about wacky conspiracy theories, but some people are going to take this seriously and freak out unnecessarily. If you look all over the game you could probably read similar “hints” that something is terribly wrong at ArenaNet into the dorky, obvious, yet oddly charming puns and references that are everywhere. I’m disappointed in the Ascended armor and worried about where things are going, too, but strapping on the ol’ tinfoil is only likely to make it worse.

I am very against the new gear grind, gating, etc. I have no clue if this is true (it is a bit out there) but, wow, what a good read.

Good job.

Chuo.4238:

Seems out there, yet possible all at the same time…

Fun read regardless!

Now if they’d just add tinfoil hats to the Gem Store, we’d all know for sure

I would so buy one. Just so I can run around Lion’s Arch and scream about “Aliens”

Bonefield.9813:

I’m pretty sure “Under New Management” refers to the fact that the JP takes place in what was supposed to be the Consortium’s resort proper, which is now overrun with karka and native wildlife. If you talk to the NPCs, they tend to try to euphemistically describe everything going wrong to make it sound much better (one talks up their “state-of-the-art maritime transportation system” or similar as a roundabout way to tell you the asura gate is broken so you’ll have to take the boat).

Their blatant obsession with profit-making was what got them into trouble with the karka in the first place, which is why the names are a joke on money. Most golems have “codes” like that: a golem belonging to the Terranexic krewe, which focuses on earth-based research, is named RCK-7550 (“rock”), and SCRAP-BOT is treated like an acronym even though…that’s exactly what they are. It’s a corny joke.

I know I’m being a killjoy and not having a sense of humor about wacky conspiracy theories, but some people are going to take this seriously and freak out unnecessarily. If you look all over the game you could probably read similar “hints” that something is terribly wrong at ArenaNet into the dorky, obvious, yet oddly charming puns and references that are everywhere. I’m disappointed in the Ascended armor and worried about where things are going, too, but strapping on the ol’ tinfoil is only likely to make it worse.

And an awesome summary of what’s likely happening @ ArenaNet, with a rather fantastical wrapper applied. [common technique for writers — draw from real life]

Xpiher.5209:

This is … just too much. If all that is right I’m not worried. I’m relieved. It means I can quit this game and never come back and rely on all themepark games becoming utter trash in the name of profit.

Just a note… I have been playing EVE Online since last Friday or so, and while the game has a MASSIVE learning curve it really is a blast.

100% PvP, Full Loot Drop, Sandbox-Style game based on being an immortal space ship captain.

I have given up on all MMOs, and all multi-player “themepark” style games.

I made a post on this just yesterday when people were complaining about the cash-shop and how Anet didn’t seen to know what it’s players wanted. But Anet isn’t actually at fault. There has been an interloper.

As mentioned in the OP Nexon bought up almost 15% of NCsoft. What came after that were some rapid fire changes: A new position for the cash-shop was created, it was filled by a former Nexon producer named Crystin Cox, her first announcement was taking account wide dye unlocks and making them character specific. Which ANet caught a lot of flack over, truth is it wasn’t even Anet proper. It was this broad monetizing them.

Look at Cox’s resume. One of the highlights is Maple Story. Look at Maple Story’s cash shop. All chests and different tiers of chests. What has someone tried shoving down our throats since release? Chests.

During Halloween Mini pet packs were a big seller. Mostly because they were the only sure-thing Halloween item in there besides costumes. So during the next event those are taken from us and put in random chests. It’s transparent and disgusting.

Worst of all is there is nothing ArenaNet can actually do about it because this woman was placed by their publisher who, in turn, was pressured by one of their largest share holders. She is shielded by corporate politics going all the way to the top. Meanwhile, guys like Mike, Chris, Colin and Regina catch all of the community wrath. Do you all think they are happy about that?

I would encourage everyone to just save their money. Don’t spend a dime in the cash-shop an left the low numbers send a message to NC and Nexon that this woman isn’t working for us. But that just ends up hurting ANet and players. We could not buy chests…but we tried that after the Halloween fiasco and what happened? She put minis in chests. When people don’t buy those, whats next? Chests for character slots and bank tabs?

Somehow I get the impression she is the sort to think that if we aren’t buying the stuff then there is something wrong with us and not her strategy. Rather than get anything in the shop we would want and gladly pay for, more junk will just get shoved into random loot boxes for cash.

Makes me wonder what else Nexon is pressuring NC to make Anet do and how much of the hell that gets rained down on the studio was misdirected.

Another strong hint is that a certain ArenaNet employee talks about an NPC like it were a person…

I won’t be buying any chests or anything with RNG. Halloween was a good teacher.

What next, precursors in chests? Oh wait. Just put them in special black lion chests. I’m sure people will gamble to get a 50g~150g profit.

I think Ironzerg neglected to state the obvious: that the post was more than a little tongue-in-cheek. ;-)

I did want to mention one thing, though, and that’s that people need to understand that boycotting the gem store isn’t going to make things better. People seem to forget that ArenaNet isn’t making money every month on this game via subscriptions; your gem purchases are the only thing keeping Guild Wars 2 in the black.

I, like many of you, have become increasingly frustrated with ArenaNet lately. Promised buffs to my main (a Ranger) have not come. Ascended gear introduced power creep and gear grind in the short term, while guaranteeing future creep and increasingly irrelevant crafting in the long term. They are already failing of their promise to us, and the game isn’t even three months old.

But… not buying gems isn’t going to make them sit up and say “hey – maybe we should fix Rangers”. Not spending my cash isn’t going to fix power creep. No – what will happen is that they will become increasingly desperate to earn revenue, and they’ll begin charging for content, or putting more and more “necessary” stuff up for sale in the store.

Vote with your wallet – that’s the capitalist way. But don’t think your not dropping twenty or fifty bucks on gems is going to “send a statement”. All it’s going to do is weaken the quality of their product. Play, or don’t play – but don’t delude yourself on how to affect change here.

Kinda funny, as soon as my husband and I completed that puzzle and got the “Under New Management” achievement we both looked at each other with a “hmmmm, That’s how we’re feeling about this game!”

It really feels like someone in the higher ups just said "OMG Make something quick, make a wow clone!, give them gear grind! Hurry, and give them lots of good drops after the final event so they will say “oooooh Shinies!!”

I have yet to do a fractals, I…just really want to pretend it doesn’t exist, but the constant spam is very annoying. Plus I need to do it if I want to finish my monthly =/

We can’t know how much of this is true or not, but it doesn’t matter. The current development of the game drives players off, this cuts on sales.
Whoever decides the future strategy will have to deal with it and hopefully decides in way both the players and the investors will love.

AcidicVision.5498:

I made a post on this just yesterday when people were complaining about the cash-shop and how Anet didn’t seen to know what it’s players wanted. But Anet isn’t actually at fault. There has been an interloper.

As mentioned in the OP Nexon bought up almost 15% of NCsoft. What came after that were some rapid fire changes: A new position for the cash-shop was created, it was filled by a former Nexon producer named Crystin Cox, her first announcement was taking account wide dye unlocks and making them character specific. Which ANet caught a lot of flack over, truth is it wasn’t even Anet proper. It was this broad monetizing them.

Look at Cox’s resume. One of the highlights is Maple Story. Look at Maple Story’s cash shop. All chests and different tiers of chests. What has someone tried shoving down our throats since release? Chests.

During Halloween Mini pet packs were a big seller. Mostly because they were the only sure-thing Halloween item in there besides costumes. So during the next event those are taken from us and put in random chests. It’s transparent and disgusting.

Worst of all is there is nothing ArenaNet can actually do about it because this woman was placed by their publisher who, in turn, was pressured by one of their largest share holders. She is shielded by corporate politics going all the way to the top. Meanwhile, guys like Mike, Chris, Colin and Regina catch all of the community wrath. Do you all think they are happy about that?

I would encourage everyone to just save their money. Don’t spend a dime in the cash-shop an left the low numbers send a message to NC and Nexon that this woman isn’t working for us. But that just ends up hurting ANet and players. We could not buy chests…but we tried that after the Halloween fiasco and what happened? She put minis in chests. When people don’t buy those, whats next? Chests for character slots and bank tabs?

Somehow I get the impression she is the sort to think that if we aren’t buying the stuff then there is something wrong with us and not her strategy. Rather than get anything in the shop we would want and gladly pay for, more junk will just get shoved into random loot boxes for cash.

Makes me wonder what else Nexon is pressuring NC to make Anet do and how much of the hell that gets rained down on the studio was misdirected.

You could make a Thread about it. It will be good to let people know whats going on and give them feedback. That was interesting to get new info about this whole mess and Miss Cox, I wish her all bad.

If you can, pls make a thread for other players about it. Thanks

As much as I want to dismiss this as tinfoil-hatting conspiracy stuff, it does make a huge amount of sense.

Doesn’t help that Nexon was never high on my “companies to respect”-chart, and NCSoft took a deep dive after closing City of Heroes.

Nymia.3256:

Xpiher.5209:

This is … just too much. If all that is right I’m not worried. I’m relieved. It means I can quit this game and never come back and rely on all themepark games becoming utter trash in the name of profit.

Just a note… I have been playing EVE Online since last Friday or so, and while the game has a MASSIVE learning curve it really is a blast.

100% PvP, Full Loot Drop, Sandbox-Style game based on being an immortal space ship captain.

I have given up on all MMOs, and all multi-player “themepark” style games.

Good for you. I’d like EvE more if it wasn’t for the fact that combat is dull.

Nymia.3256:

Xpiher.5209:

This is … just too much. If all that is right I’m not worried. I’m relieved. It means I can quit this game and never come back and rely on all themepark games becoming utter trash in the name of profit.

Just a note… I have been playing EVE Online since last Friday or so, and while the game has a MASSIVE learning curve it really is a blast.

100% PvP, Full Loot Drop, Sandbox-Style game based on being an immortal space ship captain.

I have given up on all MMOs, and all multi-player “themepark” style games.

Yeah great game until you are in a corporation that is locked in their hangars by some jerk of another corporation that thinks it’s fun to try to actually ruin other gamers play time by destroying the vessels of the other corporation that have no basic defenses.

Anyway, this topic was a good read, I’m going to invest my money in Reynolds and Reynolds aluminum foil asap.

Xpiher.5209:

Good for you. I’d like EvE more if it wasn’t for the fact that combat is dull.

You, sir, are doing it wrong.

EVE’s pvp combat (pve is indeed dull) is the only time in any video game (even now after I’ve played EVE for almost 4 years) when my palms get sweaty with excitement.

Runar.1342:

Yeah great game until you are in a corporation that is locked in their hangars by some jerk of another corporation that thinks it’s fun to try to actually ruin other gamers play time by destroying the vessels of the other corporation that have no basic defenses.

Why not fight back? Just a thought…

Runar.1342:

Nymia.3256:

Xpiher.5209:

This is … just too much. If all that is right I’m not worried. I’m relieved. It means I can quit this game and never come back and rely on all themepark games becoming utter trash in the name of profit.

Just a note… I have been playing EVE Online since last Friday or so, and while the game has a MASSIVE learning curve it really is a blast.

100% PvP, Full Loot Drop, Sandbox-Style game based on being an immortal space ship captain.

I have given up on all MMOs, and all multi-player “themepark” style games.

Yeah great game until you are in a corporation that is locked in their hangars by some jerk of another corporation that thinks it’s fun to try to actually ruin other gamers play time by destroying the vessels of the other corporation that have no basic defenses.

Anyway, this topic was a good read, I’m going to invest my money in Reynolds and Reynolds aluminum foil asap.

You can ignore 0.0 space and only play the built in Crop vs Crop game. I better stop before this thread gets locked for going off topic too much.

Umbra Unu.4260:

Xpiher.5209:

Good for you. I’d like EvE more if it wasn’t for the fact that combat is dull.

You, sir, are doing it wrong.

EVE’s pvp combat (pve is indeed dull) is the only time in any video game (even now after I’ve played EVE for almost 4 years) when my palms get sweaty with excitement.

Thats because you can lose all your stuff. The combat system is dull to me. Too much spread sheet vs spread sheet. I’d rather play a game like Darkfall

Thanks for the replies…and yes, the post is meant to be a bit of a satire, but hey…we all know how much love and attention Arenanet puts towards the tiny details of their world, so I can guarantee you nothing is done without a lot of thought.

Maybe this is Arenanet’s way of sneaking an apology into the game for the fans. Maybe not.

But what I think is relevant is the discussion how and why decisions to monetize the game are made, and the impacts it might have on a “pure” product. But it’s interesting, because prior to launch, most GW2 fansites were filled with posts that read somewhere along the lines of, “Anet! Shut up and take my money!”

There’s plenty of players out their who want nothing more than to give Anet as much money as possible, but perhaps it’s worth considering whether or not Nexon’s model for collecting such money is the right (or ethical) way to do it.

Umbra Unu.4260:

Xpiher.5209:

Good for you. I’d like EvE more if it wasn’t for the fact that combat is dull.

You, sir, are doing it wrong.

EVE’s pvp combat (pve is indeed dull) is the only time in any video game (even now after I’ve played EVE for almost 4 years) when my palms get sweaty with excitement.

OT: I hope you contributed to this project http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com

ironzerg.3196:

Thanks for the replies…and yes, the post is meant to be a bit of a satire, but hey…we all know how much love and attention Arenanet puts towards the tiny details of their world, so I can guarantee you nothing is done without a lot of thought.

I was just laughing so hard considering the latest patch They constantly do things clearly nobody thought about (or at least tested them) before.

Iruwen.3164:

Umbra Unu.4260:

Xpiher.5209:

Good for you. I’d like EvE more if it wasn’t for the fact that combat is dull.

You, sir, are doing it wrong.

EVE’s pvp combat (pve is indeed dull) is the only time in any video game (even now after I’ve played EVE for almost 4 years) when my palms get sweaty with excitement.

OT: I hope you contributed to this project http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com

ironzerg.3196:

Thanks for the replies…and yes, the post is meant to be a bit of a satire, but hey…we all know how much love and attention Arenanet puts towards the tiny details of their world, so I can guarantee you nothing is done without a lot of thought.

I was just laughing so hard considering the latest patch They constantly do things clearly nobody thought about (or at least tested them) before.

OT I herd about this game last week. Yes, for a space sim thats something that seems like a better game.

ironzerg.3196:

Thanks for the replies…and yes, the post is meant to be a bit of a satire, but hey…we all know how much love and attention Arenanet puts towards the tiny details of their world, so I can guarantee you nothing is done without a lot of thought.

Maybe this is Arenanet’s way of sneaking an apology into the game for the fans. Maybe not.

But what I think is relevant is the discussion how and why decisions to monetize the game are made, and the impacts it might have on a “pure” product. But it’s interesting, because prior to launch, most GW2 fansites were filled with posts that read somewhere along the lines of, “Anet! Shut up and take my money!”

There’s plenty of players out their who want nothing more than to give Anet as much money as possible, but perhaps it’s worth considering whether or not Nexon’s model for collecting such money is the right (or ethical) way to do it.

I was one of those players.

At this point, if ANet retracted this garbage I might come back to play… but I don’t think I would be very willing to spend any more money for a very, VERY long time.

I think GW2 is dead now, it just doesn’t know it yet. I would be willing to bet this time next year it will be a very low population game destroyed mainly by bugs and being unable to compete for the attention of the “endless progression” players.

WoW doesn’t have bugs, or glitches. If and when they do they are solved in a matter of days, if not hours. It is highly polished and very user friendly. You’ll never compete for that audience with this buggy glitch ridden game. The people who are filling up the game right now either:

A) Don’t really care, and are likely to never spend any money at all.
B) Wanted gear progression, and will likely get bored and frustrated very soon.
C) Haven’t yet discovered what happened.

Great observations, OP.
My opinion : This is why we can’t have nice things.

I’ll also refer to one article I wrote that Kotaku published about this “WoWization” :
http://kotaku.com/5884948/stop-copying-world-of-warcraft-start-making-a-better-mmo

And one thread I created at SWTOR forums before the game turned into WoWization, which became huge, right after that WoWization (people telling “you were right, it happened”) :
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=94889

p.s : this thread is epic, if OP’s hints are true.

p.p.s : about that Kotaku article, look at how ironic the first user comment is (article published in feb. 2012)

AcidicVision.5498:

During Halloween Mini pet packs were a big seller. Mostly because they were the only sure-thing Halloween item in there besides costumes. So during the next event those are taken from us and put in random chests. It’s transparent and disgusting.

To be honest, as soon as I looked at the gem store I thought this exact same thing. Even if this conspiracy stuff isn’t true and it’s people from Anet doing the cash shop still this is an extremely shady move. I feel like someone thought, “Hmmm, the weapon skins being in the chests didn’t make quite as much as I had predicted. I guess these players don’t like weapon skins that much. What sold well during Halloween then? OH! minis!” Then bam. Lotto chests for minis.

I guess I fall into the C category. I stopped playing GW2 about 1 month after it released. I’m one of those players that actually loves to find fantastic gear, not because I need it to participate in some PvP or high level dungeons, but rather just because it’s a fun thing to me to occasionally be rewarded by getting some surprise fantastic gear once in a while and I didn’t feel that was happening in GW2.

But I was watching two guys livestreaming GW2 early this morning so I thought I’d give it another chance since they were having so much fun playing it (currently re-downloading the client since I deleted it when I quit playing) so I thought I’d come to the forums to see what is new and what do I discover? A hell of a lot of ranting from the players, much of which I can’t even decipher as to what it is they’re ranting about. It seems the different rant discussions seem to go out like a spider web, everybody seems to be pissed off about one thing or another right now in GW2.

Oh well, I’ll continue to download the client since it’s already up to 10GB downloaded and will have to actually play it myself to see if anything has changed in the game, I’m kind of believing in one topic that I read that pretty much states, “the game hasn’t changed at all for me” is likely where I’ll fall into things again.

As far as the cash shop is concerned, I’m no longer opposed to buying things from it, but first they have to produce something in the cash shop that I want to buy. Currently there is nothing that I’d give my hard earned money for and that’s kind of a shame.

ironzerg.3196:

There’s plenty of players out their who want nothing more than to give Anet as much money as possible, but perhaps it’s worth considering whether or not Nexon’s model for collecting such money is the right (or ethical) way to do it.

Ethical is a questionable word. Other games have used this roulette game in cash shops and been profitable. Namely Maple Story, which is where Cox found success and why we are seeing that garbage here now.

There is a segment of the demographic that likes that sort of thing and will spend money there. So for them it might be right and perfectly ethical ; however, for us it is not. Its on the forums, its in map chat, its on reddit and fansites, people hate the chests. And that is effecting the reputation of the game with regard to it’s players and the public.

The image of the company and the game is getting drug through the gutter and this lady for all we know is shrugging her shoulders saying “Maple story had an 18-24 demographic that was 40% female and this worked there, so it cant be me, it must be your game.”

As you mentioned, when you go from people wanting to throw money at you to requesting refunds from Anet and putting chargebacks on their credit cards…there is a problem. I hope someone, somewhere takes a look at things and decides maybe its better to let Anet run their game like they want to.

Well, having deleted my characters and created new lvl 1s to reserve names; beyond the forums, I’ll be in LA and WvW with macro /s and /m speeches on how best to help ArenaNet win, if the above is true.

RP tis a blast when made funny.

Ask yourselves, which is more likely; ArenaNet going back on their word, or the above scenario ?

… at one time I believed ArenaNet the best game company ever, perhaps I still do…

Nymia.3256:

Xpiher.5209:

This is … just too much. If all that is right I’m not worried. I’m relieved. It means I can quit this game and never come back and rely on all themepark games becoming utter trash in the name of profit.

Just a note… I have been playing EVE Online since last Friday or so, and while the game has a MASSIVE learning curve it really is a blast.

100% PvP, Full Loot Drop, Sandbox-Style game based on being an immortal space ship captain.

I have given up on all MMOs, and all multi-player “themepark” style games.

In my opinion, the random cash chest is unethical because it unfairly taps into a person’s desire for new, shiney items by trying to incentivize them to spend more money gambling for the item that said item ends up being worth.

A more ethical way is to put the items up on the cash shop, for whatever price Arenanet deems fair, and allow customers to exchange their money for something value, based a true indication of the value of the item. And that’s another major complaint about the game. Ninety percent of the stuff in the cash shop is junk. Give us something valuable, and we’ll give you value for it.