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Posted by: Bellizare.5816

Bellizare.5816

As is, the game is certainly playable, and rewarding (fun even).

Just saying that my ride was so much easier.

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Posted by: evilunderling.9265

evilunderling.9265

I’ve read something about the old method of unlocking weapon skills on a per-weapon basis by (shockingly) actually using the weapon. That sounds pretty neat to me; more interesting than the current system. Now by the time I actually have access to multiple weapon choices, I just look over the weapon section of my skills panel, work out which one(s) suit me best, and move on from there. Not having weapon choices is of course another facet of the “very early levels are annoyingly limited” complaint.

It wasn’t as great as you might think. It was nice to have an incentive to try to use every weapon, yes.

But here’s the thing: if you’re anything like me, you’ll figure that every skill you can get is meant to be relevant. When I started playing, one of the first things I’d do is grind mobs to get every single weapon skill. That could be over 500 mobs for some professions, with the implication being that not doing this grind will screw you over massively later on.

You actually needed fewer kills to unlock a weapon skill the higher level you were, you weren’t really required to use many skills for most early fights, and by about level 20, I’m fairly sure that a single kill granted enough experience in a weapon to unlock a new skill on the spot. But I didn’t know any of that when I first started playing my elementalist.

On the other hand the trait system is just horrible; a potentially interesting idea with just about the worst possible implementation. Might not be game-breaking, but definitely alt-killing. I consider my alts to have a de facto level cap around 30 – I might make an exception for my guardian since I’m finding I like that class a lot, but the rest will languish around 30ish until/unless Anet fixes the trait system. Which from what I’ve seen in the huge trait thread seems unlikely after this much time.

I currently have six sub-80 characters, and the one character out of those that I’m actually bothering to level at present was created before the trait changes landed and so gets most of her traits for free.

And under the heading of ‘missed opportunities’, I’m not really sure why the level rewards don’t include free traits to make the trait system more palatable.

(edited by evilunderling.9265)

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Posted by: Xillllix.3485

Xillllix.3485

Unlocking the skills as you used the weapons made sense and was much more fun than everything being level gated, it followed the players progression.

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Posted by: Purple Miku.7032

Purple Miku.7032

First of all I’m not new. I’ve played for over a year and a half.

I made a new character 2 weeks ago-ish. I tried it from scratch and I will actually be constructive.

So without further ado, the pros:

1. Not nearly as much was changed as I expected
2. I actually feel pleased with opening up the levelup rewards, despite whether or not I like them
3. Some of the rewards from levelups are actually good

The cons:

1. A lot of things are level gated for no apparent reason and it seems really pointless. Some of the things are pretty basic too. An example of this is weapon swapping. I couldn’t weapon swap on my guardian until level 27..? Why…?
2. The level at which traits are accessible is kind of ridiculous.
3. Many of the equipment rewards given have horrible stats, like “Shaman’s” that have no purpose in any gamemode. They also cannot be salvaged, so they are useless.
4. I feel discouraged to do the personal story because I feel immediately detached to it knowing that I won’t be able to do it unless I grind map completion or something else for quick levels. By the time I get to the level needed, I’ve lost interest.

Suggestions:

1. Either let us salvage/vendor the items we’re getting from levelups or let us choose relevant stats please. Pretty sure no one needs vitality + healing power when leveling up in open world.
2. Instead of level gating literally everything, why not just take a more reasonable route? Instead of the level gating you could simply learn things from ingame activities/tutorials. Specific ingame activities that are heavily incentivized would be a lot nicer than forcing everyone to spam the first few skills of a weapon over and over again.
3. Allow us to have access to traits earlier please. I’m cool with the way they’re unlocked but maybe add an actual reward per trait unlock? Doesn’t have to be much, but it feels too much like a chore and I can’t imagine many people caring about actually going out into the world and doing everything to unlock them. Most people would probably rather spend the skill points, since so many utilities on all classes are just about useless.

I have nothing to mention about improving the personal story that wouldn’t involve a complete rework which I’m sure they would never bother with, so I’ll refrain from suggesting anything for it.

Anyways, here’s my relatively short post about it.

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Posted by: Gray.9041

Gray.9041

as a returning player (I kinda stopped playing at the end of the living story season 1, and came back recently), I have to say that I don’t think the NPE was an improvement at all.

I think the upsides would be:
- the loot from level-up rewards is nice
- weapon skills have a lower ceiling (old method could be very grindy on some occasions (looking at you elementalist))

the downsides, which go from disappointing to occasionally enraging:
– the change to stat increases. i know the new way is meant to feel more “rewarding”, but instead, it feel jittery, leaving you under-skilled between skill increase levels. I preferred the older, smoother methods.
– the bottom line for weapon skills has sky rocketed. this is where new players are gonna be, and several levels of monotony in weapon skills isn’t incentive for anyone to keep playing.
– not being able to rally a low levels? that’s just punishing new players. it’s not cool, and it’s not helpful. same with underwater combat and such.
– the way the story now works – ignoring the inconsistencies and plot holes – is just boring. like the stat increases, you took a beautiful, smooth thing and turned it into a spiky mess.
– increased level requirements for traits and other such things. for new players, this probably doesn’t help much. for older players, it’s just irritating.

overall:
- you took a lot of smooth things and made them far less smooth. this is bad.
– for the story, it ruins the flow, ruins the feel, and leaves people less interested. that’s
not what a story should do.
– for stats – what’s the point of levelling up if you’re not a little better?
- you took a lot of content and placed silly restrictions on it. new releases should add
stuff, but you took away what we had. you tried to fix what wasn’t broken.

mostly, I just don’t get why you’d take what was a wonderful and functional part of the game, and make it uninteresting, restrictive, and less fun – especially when there are far more urgent issues with the game – things that need fixed.

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

2. Instead of level gating literally everything, why not just take a more reasonable route? Instead of the level gating you could simply learn things from ingame activities/tutorials. Specific ingame activities that are heavily incentivized would be a lot nicer than forcing everyone to spam the first few skills of a weapon over and over again.

+10 to this. The dodge tutorial is a nice example of the way to go.

- you took a lot of content and placed silly restrictions on it. new releases should add stuff, but you took away what we had. you tried to fix what wasn’t broken.

^ +10

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Posted by: HandOfKane.5409

HandOfKane.5409

Umm… I never said it can’t be the other way around. But what you say is that there is so much wrong with NPE and it has to be fixed now or else you will be sorry!

Can you quote where I specifically stated that?

How the fudge do you know that!? Do you have the numbers? Do you know that there has to be a fix and that majority of the playerbase will make Anet disapointed if they do not “fix” this right away? Anet has employes who reeds the forums day and night and they have there eyes on other communites like reddit, Facebook, Twitter and more. I won’t say that they know what they are doing but atleast I beleave that Anet knows what they are doing. So if it takes over 4 months before it is “fixed” maby it means it is a hard nut to crack, or they are working on something different or you could be the minority and there won’t ever be a “fix” to your issues.

Hmm, all the forum posts, reddit posts, and the polls on this issue don’t really agree with you. Of course, you could just pretend that they don’t exist so you don’t have to deal with them.

Also, you’re assuming that Anet does everything 100% competently, which as we have seen since launch, is far from the case.

I have been playing many different MMO’s for many years now and I have had my opinions and suggestions about stuff… I have never had any of my suggestions come true but I know that they do listen to what I have to say and I know that my opinions are notet but it doesn’t mean they have to walk the path I wan’t them to since my opinions may be less good than some other opinions or something. What I mean is that it is good to have your opinions and giving your feedback is important for the gamedevelopers but don’t expect that your opinions and suggestions are always the best way to go. So to me it sounds like you think your opinions are number 1 and they have to listen to you or they are making a big mistake.

I think Palador summed this up better than I could:

ANet said that retaining more players was an important issue, and that’s why they made the NPE.

Given that, the lack of support to refine and adjust the NPE is bad, bordering on horrifying. If this is how they deal with a major game development initiative, then there’s something going seriously wrong somewhere.

So it looks like the issue is a but more complex than just “thinking your opinions are number 1.” If that is the case, then a lot of people apparently think that “that opinion is number 1.”

So, no fix in 4+ months.
There as been word about a fix to the Personal Story wich is the one that has most bugs and realy needs a fix.
The rest, does it need a fix?

Yes. The reasons why have been stated ad nauseaum. You can read them in this thread.

A big update does not happen in one day, it needs programing, graphics, Bugtesting, more programing, more bugtesting, maby some more programing, maby more graphics, maby some story or atleast some script, and alot of other stuff I don’t know about, and a clearence from the top that it is ok to be released (I think) and finally it also has to wait until release day for this update.

I’ve seen far more obvious issues in games get fixed far quicker. So like I said, that reflects pretty poorly on Anet.

(edited by HandOfKane.5409)

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Posted by: Rangerdeity.5847

Rangerdeity.5847

can i atleast have all my downed skills at lv 1 please?

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Posted by: HandOfKane.5409

HandOfKane.5409

Now where did I say that the forum people were a loud vocal minority? And why during an argument must you misquote me to try to make it sound like I’m saying something I’m not? Because that’s exactly what you’re doing.

Interesting. So if someone said “It’s freezing outside!” and then I said that (s)he said that it was cold, that would be “misquoting him/her to try to make it sound like (s)he was saying something (s)he wasn’t?” I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

I doubt I’ve ever used the words vocal minority when talking about the forums and if I did it was a long time ago. Nor have I ever said the forum opinion doesn’t count. Those words never ever came out of my mouth, nor did I ever imply it.

I simply said that a majority on the forums doesn’t necessarily mean most players want something, which most people would read to be self-evident.

Umm, usually you say that in an attempted to dismiss those who disagree with you as part of the “vocal minority.” I guess it’s not as self-evident as you think.

In fact, I’ve said many times over many posts that I don’t think any group actually has a majority of any size, and that I think most groups are minorities including the section of the fan base I represent. Which means no matter what Anet does, they’re likely to kitten off a percentage of the fan base.

The “any changes made will kitten off someone” argument went out the door since the very first patch.

I do believe (as in this is my belief), that most players log into the game, kill some stuff, farm some stuff and log off, without ever visiting the forums or ever being aware of the deeper issues.

So people who play with the NPE aren’t aware of the NPE? I’m not really buying that.

That doesn’t mean that’s said on the forums has not value. But it doesn’t mean that what’s said on the forums has absolute value either.

False dichotomy. There’s a middle ground between “having no value” and being the absolute authority. And I’d say the opinions of people who make the effort to voice their feedback and concerns hold a bit more weight than those who don’t. Not to mention that we also know what those people actually think (rather than just supposing what they think).

People who speak for other people, they say thinks like “what people want” are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Because they’re implying they know what people want. They’re implying some sort of majority mandate (including the guy you’re agreeing with).

My post is more reasonable, because I’m not assuming I have a majority. I’m just not assuming you have a majority either.

Hmm, all the posts in this very thread, as well as on other threads, reddit posts, and polls disagree with you. Of course you could just keep pretending that they don’t exist (that whole “leading a horse to water thing”). That’s what SWTOR did in its first 1-2 years, and its playerbase and rep really suffered from it.

Logically, however, people who level 1 character and never level a character again (there are many) aren’t likely to be affected by it and people like me, who level many characters aren’t particularly affected by it (at least not in a negative sense). I’m sure there are people who aren’t like me who level characters who are affected by it.

Perhaps, though that’s assuming that the players who leveled just 1 character weren’t disgusted though the post-NPE leveling process.

It’s my belief that it’s not as many as you think, particularly after the first spate of changes.

Ah, but it’s quite possible that it’s not as many as you think, either. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the opposite opinion.

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Posted by: HandOfKane.5409

HandOfKane.5409

You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Considering I get to level 15 in less than an hour and a half, this is just a non-issue. It’s easy and fast to get to level 15 when most of the locked stuff is unlocked.

On top of that, we now get level up scrolls just for logging in, as well as PvP.

Is it a minor inconvenience for many people? I’m sure it is.

But since 1.5 hours is only a tiny percentage of a character’s lifespan, it’s hard to really imagine it being that big a deal. It’s fast, you get through it, if it helps some new people so be it.

Right, because everyone should focus on trying to level up to 15 as fast as possible, and not enjoy the game, discover things, and play the game at their own pace (which has been a major selling point of GW2 from the start).

Also, that’s assuming that everyone (including new players) levels their characters in exactly the same way you do.

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Posted by: caveman.5840

caveman.5840

all I can say is 3 trait points at lvl 42 …. “REALLY” -o- sigh

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.
[sip]
if it helps some new people so be it.

Right, because everyone should focus on trying to level up to 15 as fast as possible, and not enjoy the game, discover things, and play the game at their own pace (which has been a major selling point of GW2 from the start).

Also, that’s assuming that everyone (including new players) levels their characters in exactly the same way you do.

+10 to this! Leveling up should be an enjoyable experience, not a boring chore you must do as fast you can.

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

Now where did I say that the forum people were a loud vocal minority? And why during an argument must you misquote me to try to make it sound like I’m saying something I’m not? Because that’s exactly what you’re doing.

Interesting. So if someone said “It’s freezing outside!” and then I said that (s)he said that it was cold, that would be “misquoting him/her to try to make it sound like (s)he was saying something (s)he wasn’t?” I don’t think that word means what you think it means.

I doubt I’ve ever used the words vocal minority when talking about the forums and if I did it was a long time ago. Nor have I ever said the forum opinion doesn’t count. Those words never ever came out of my mouth, nor did I ever imply it.

I simply said that a majority on the forums doesn’t necessarily mean most players want something, which most people would read to be self-evident.

Umm, usually you say that in an attempted to dismiss those who disagree with you as part of the “vocal minority.” I guess it’s not as self-evident as you think.

In fact, I’ve said many times over many posts that I don’t think any group actually has a majority of any size, and that I think most groups are minorities including the section of the fan base I represent. Which means no matter what Anet does, they’re likely to kitten off a percentage of the fan base.

The “any changes made will kitten off someone” argument went out the door since the very first patch.

I do believe (as in this is my belief), that most players log into the game, kill some stuff, farm some stuff and log off, without ever visiting the forums or ever being aware of the deeper issues.

So people who play with the NPE aren’t aware of the NPE? I’m not really buying that.

That doesn’t mean that’s said on the forums has not value. But it doesn’t mean that what’s said on the forums has absolute value either.

False dichotomy. There’s a middle ground between “having no value” and being the absolute authority. And I’d say the opinions of people who make the effort to voice their feedback and concerns hold a bit more weight than those who don’t. Not to mention that we also know what those people actually think (rather than just supposing what they think).

People who speak for other people, they say thinks like “what people want” are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Because they’re implying they know what people want. They’re implying some sort of majority mandate (including the guy you’re agreeing with).

My post is more reasonable, because I’m not assuming I have a majority. I’m just not assuming you have a majority either.

Hmm, all the posts in this very thread, as well as on other threads, reddit posts, and polls disagree with you. Of course you could just keep pretending that they don’t exist (that whole “leading a horse to water thing”). That’s what SWTOR did in its first 1-2 years, and its playerbase and rep really suffered from it.

Logically, however, people who level 1 character and never level a character again (there are many) aren’t likely to be affected by it and people like me, who level many characters aren’t particularly affected by it (at least not in a negative sense). I’m sure there are people who aren’t like me who level characters who are affected by it.

Perhaps, though that’s assuming that the players who leveled just 1 character weren’t disgusted though the post-NPE leveling process.

It’s my belief that it’s not as many as you think, particularly after the first spate of changes.

Ah, but it’s quite possible that it’s not as many as you think, either. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the opposite opinion.

I never claimed to have a majority view. The only times I claim that other people don’t have a majority is when I feel I have evidence that that’s the case, as in people who want open world PvP. I don’t think they have a majority based on my experiences in the genre.

Attempt like this to discredit me, don’t do anything to discredit me. I do not use the term vocal minority. I’m well aware that even if the forums are a vocal minority, some people in game are going to agree with them. That makes it impossible to say who has the majority.

If someone says “most people feel this way” or “the playerbase feels this way”, I often say something, because they don’t know.

That’s not say I do know. It would be difficult, I think, for you to find a post where I claimed to have some sort of majority.

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. Considering I get to level 15 in less than an hour and a half, this is just a non-issue. It’s easy and fast to get to level 15 when most of the locked stuff is unlocked.

On top of that, we now get level up scrolls just for logging in, as well as PvP.

Is it a minor inconvenience for many people? I’m sure it is.

But since 1.5 hours is only a tiny percentage of a character’s lifespan, it’s hard to really imagine it being that big a deal. It’s fast, you get through it, if it helps some new people so be it.

Right, because everyone should focus on trying to level up to 15 as fast as possible, and not enjoy the game, discover things, and play the game at their own pace (which has been a major selling point of GW2 from the start).

Also, that’s assuming that everyone (including new players) levels their characters in exactly the same way you do.

Everybody doesn’t have to. For people repeating the content it should come quite naturally. Getting to level 15 in under two hours takes almost no effort at all. For new people, they might take longer, but as they’re learning and exploring, it won’t seem the same for them…at least I don’t think it should.

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Posted by: Carighan.6758

Carighan.6758

People repeating the content start at lvl20, btw. You get tons of those books nowadays.

The strength of heart to face oneself has been made manifest. The persona Carighan has appeared.

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Posted by: JusticarArkiel.1564

JusticarArkiel.1564

i still want one thing anet: the story to be returned to the way it was. keep the levelgating, thats ok, can live with that. but the mutilation of the orr arcs, removal of the greatest fear arc? hell no. bring that back the way it was. nobody complained about it, so why “fix” it? it’s been 5 months now since the NPE was released and the story mutilated, and you still haven’t fixed it? i have multiple friends who are new and won’t even do the story because they want to experience it the way it was originally, and i certainly refuse to do it on any of my toons as well. at this point i just come on to get my daily logon reward and dailies, its the story that kept me coming back. so please, PLEASE, bring back the story we loved, it wasn’t broken.

Fix what you have before you build something new

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Posted by: Rinhara.6450

Rinhara.6450

ANet… I used to love leveling. Absolutely love it. Leveling my alts was never a chore. It was fun to unlock weapons skills by using the weapons, progress through my personal story as slowly or quickly as I wanted, feel like I was slowly getting better as I got a trait point + skill point + passive stat increase per level…
It was smooth, realistic, polished. It made sense and never broke immersion in your lovely game. It didn’t feel like I was being handed anything (like gear) and I didn’t need to be handed anything. Drops worked fine.

Now… I don’t know whether to smile or grimace when I see that icon on the right side of my screen. I’ll get a spike in stats, or a bundle of trait points, maybe some information on some sort of “new” feature (that’s been there all along, just I’m only now being informed). Or even a non-reward like “You can now go play this dungeon!”
It disturbs my immersion, it’s not any more useful than the previous system, and it feels like someone’s handing stuff to me instead of me earning it, and expecting me to be excited.
Level-gating options as well (weapons skills, traits, WEAPON SWAPPING) is never good. Give the player a set of options at the start, and trust them enough to start experimenting once they feel ready. Trust their intuition. I maybe like to flatter myself that my intelligence is above-average, but I did get the downed state on my own when I saw it, no explanation needed.

Yes, some things like combo fields could have been explained better to me as a new player.
The dodge trainer is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. That is the way to teach players how to do things.
Maybe give them a tooltip or something once they make their first combo, or just set up a “training grounds” area (or instance) in the city where you can try out combos, learn dodging, hit dummies to get a feel for your skills, etc. If you want to you can talk to a trainer there to instantly unlock (aka buy) weapon skills or traits. Doesn’t that make sense? Not this kitten popup dialogue
Yes, some things about the old NPE could have used improvement.
But there were so many things I loved about it, and the new system doesn’t make up for its shortcomings in any tangible way, I feel.

I do like dividing the story into more cohesive “chapters”, but on the other hand, I don’t like the level-gating. Take that as you will, but it’s a more minor issue for me.

Just felt the need to add my voice here. “Please don’t try to fix what’s not broken.”

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Posted by: Sirendor.1394

Sirendor.1394

1\ Revert the traits.
2\ Give tome of knowledge for every story instance completed.
3\ Nothing more to add.

Gandara – Vabbi – Ring of Fire – Fissure of Woe – Vabbi
SPvP as Standalone All is Vain

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Posted by: Spiral.3724

Spiral.3724

I was away from the game for a while and recently returned. I guess this so-called NPE is what has got me in a kerfuffle.

Why did you think you needed to change?

I didn’t think there was much wrong with the way things were.
I don’t think it’s necessary to cater to everyone’s whims, or to change to attract new players. People like the game or they don’t.
Stop trying so hard to please everyone. You’re losing players in the process.
Seems like GW2 has low self esteem.
This isn’t the game I paid for. Not sure if I like it anymore.
Old quests that were so much fun are now gone (eg. Danador’s hounds).
I can’t do my story until level 10 (Why not? Sheesh, just to try to foil key farmers? LAME.)
Unlocking skills at levels? Why? If anything, I would have preferred that it took LONGER to unlock each weapon skill as before, when you had to kill mobs to “learn”. That made sense.

Maybe my perception is skewed because I am not a new player and this is after all the New Player Experience.
I just have to say as a returning player, I miss my old game.

Spiral Madheart – Level 80 Mesmer
The Wrong Crowd [bAd] Yak’s Bend

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

Or even a non-reward like “You can now go play this dungeon!”
It disturbs my immersion, it’s not any more useful than the previous system, and it feels like someone’s handing stuff to me instead of me earning it, and expecting me to be excited.
[..] Give the player a set of options at the start, and trust them enough to start experimenting once they feel ready. Trust their intuition. [..] I did get the downed state on my own when I saw it, no explanation needed.

This is what I don’t get about it… how can giving info about basic mechanics be considered a reward? It’s like telling a very young child: “Congratulations! You have earned the right to learn how to stand up after stumbling!”, it’s just meeh. “Congratulations! You can now learn what Asura Gates are about.”.. “Duhh, I saw what they are for more than 10 levels ago.” -_- Giving info about basic stuff should never be considered a reward. It’s an obligation to provide them.

And why the game should suppose when players are ready to know about things? Let them learn things at their own pace. Why should I wait with junk gear in my inventory until lvl 12 or 17 that’s when the game thinks I’m ready to know about salvaging and TP respectively? I learned about salvaging when I was lvl 5 pre-NPE! Or waiting until level 15 to know about map completion after passing by several PoIs and stuff during my exploration just because the game thinks it’s not interesting for me to know about them yet? C’mon. Of course some people can take some time learning stuff, but others can learn faster. Don’t put everyone on the same plate.

Yes, some things like combo fields could have been explained better to me as a new player.
The dodge trainer is fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. That is the way to teach players how to do things.
Maybe give them a tooltip or something once they make their first combo, or just set up a “training grounds” area (or instance) in the city where you can try out combos, learn dodging, hit dummies to get a feel for your skills, etc. If you want to you can talk to a trainer there to instantly unlock (aka buy) weapon skills or traits. Doesn’t that make sense? Not this kitten popup dialogue

This is how a tutorial or something supposed to teach players should be done. Let players learn at their own pace and will instead waiting 80 lvls to learn all basic stuff.
Why locking out stuff because the game thinks it’s too overwhelming for me to know them yet? Why preventing me to learn basic things just because the game thinks I’m not ready for it yet? This way you are treating everyone like a baby, ignoring their background like coming from other MMOs or having easiness to learn things.

Again, yes it’s useful to teach players but putting everyone on the same plate it’s just annoying. Remember: those who are new now will become veterans later and even though they can’t think of it as stupid for now, it’s possible their mind can change later and think like others vets here are thinking now.

(edited by shadow.6174)

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Posted by: BlueOcean.5380

BlueOcean.5380

Just want to report a tidbit re:NPE on a new player’s comment on map channel that I happen to see. He said he’s a new player, and lamented something like: “How do I get rid of this arrow? It’s the most awful xxxx telling me where to go every second.”

People asked him: “What arrow?” I was wondering too.

Then one smart vet player gave him instruction on how to turn it off. Then I realized heh, I had turned that feature off as the first thing when NPE came about, and have long forgotten about it.

I had no complaints but I thought the arrow would be newbie friendly. It was a surprise to me that a new player actually hated it.

But this new player’s comment reminded me on what prompted me to cancel WoW. Man the WoW map with a kindergarten-paint-by-number like interface telling me #1 thru #9 quests in an area for me to finish was exactly the final straw that got me to cancel WoW. I’m an adventurer thrilling in discovery. Not be pointed by numbers.

Now I wonder if it’s NCSoft’s ambition to grab WoW market, and decided NPE should contain an arrow guide that makes it simple to follow… “Just like WoW”.

If I wanted to play WoW I’d be in WoW.

lol sorry… Just want to inform people of one new player’s comment. If I had been a new player, I probably would have just dumped the game without even asking how to turn the arrow off.

I’m dumb. lol maybe I could have turned the WoW paint-by-number quest map off? Um.

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Posted by: BlueOcean.5380

BlueOcean.5380

Not sure if this is part of NPE but I really like the new log-off-box graphic, which appeared shortly after NPE.

To me the rocky texture and charcoal color remind me of a fantasy world of danger in that the color can easily be that of a tome stone. It also reminds me of dignity needed to conquer evil foes, etc. etc. Just the perfect mood-setting piece to get me to want to log back in to experience the world of GW2 again.

I can not say the same about the NPE leveling reward window. To me its flashy colors are somewhat cheap-looking, and remind me of one of those lesser FTP games wanting to “reward” me first so they can sell me junk later. The quality of their presentation of the “reward” is, to me, an indication of the lack of quality to come in the rest of the game.

Suggestion: It may mean more if the newbie reward window leads us into the immersive world that is GW2’s strength.

For example, the humans can get an ivory-stationery letter from the queen along with some rewards encouraging them to keep helping the Divinity endeavors, Chars could get a authoritative letter from their commander, Asuras from their lab research leaders…

Of all MMORPGs atm I’m only playing GW2. For me, GW2 is a cut above the rest of the MMORPGs because it has the best immersion.

That immersion feeling has been diminishing with NPE. The arrow which I turned off quickly. The newbie reward flashy window which I wince at each time. lol I guess I’m silly.

But the “New Dailies”, another hot button with many players, is the players don’t want to be told where to go.

Back in the days of Scarlet invasions, we players happily raced over to Scarlet invaded zones. Hey, no one complained back then about being told where to go.

Reason, difference in immersion. Scarlet events felt like there was a world with events going on. Not just a list like a teacher just gave us homework assignments.

Immersion is GW2’s best strength. It puts GW2 above all other mmorpgs on the market. I haven’t looked at all the other games yet. But lately I’m starting to think maybe I should. Sad to think this way, because I really love GW2 and hope it becomes a great chapter in MMORPG history.

Unfortunately in a gist perhaps to compete with other MMORPGS, I feel some of the best features of GW2 are being changed for “marketing”, for “new player retention in minutes of stay”, etc. This is going by spreadsheet, but ignoring the soul and the real quality of the game. I sincerely hope this will not cause GW2 to fail over time. Thank you.

(edited by BlueOcean.5380)

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

Just want to report a tidbit re:NPE on a new player’s comment on map channel that I happen to see. He said he’s a new player, and lamented something like: “How do I get rid of this arrow? It’s the most awful xxxx telling me where to go every second.” [sip]

Well, I think it’s one thing they did right at least. That arrow can be useful (it helps to find events with now having these very map specific dailies) and you have the option to turn it off if you don’t like it. It can be set as you like.

“Oh annoyed by an arrow telling you where to go? Well, turn it off completely or tweak it to point to less things.” But meanwhile… “Oh annoyed by not being able to do story whenever you like? Sorry, you aren’t supposed to do it as we think you will get too overwhelmed and there’s nothing you can do about it.” -_-

Not sure if this is part of NPE but I really like the new log-off-box graphic, which appeared shortly after NPE.

To me the rocky texture and charcoal color remind me of a fantasy world of danger in that the color can easily be that of a tome stone. It also reminds me of dignity needed to conquer evil foes, etc. etc. Just the perfect mood-setting piece to get me to want to log back in to experience the world of GW2 again.

Good point, that new design looks nice and was a good overhaul. It looks better and harder to miss. This is how you make things more user friendly! By the way, it didn’t come with NPE but a few patches later I think (at the same time, the party UI and other parts of UI got a new and more user friendly design too).

(edited by shadow.6174)

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Posted by: Malkavian.4516

Malkavian.4516

Hello there. Now that Season 2 is concluded, I was wondering if you guys have any info on how you guys are holding up in fixing the Personal Story chapters. Some information would be nice.

FOR SKYRIM!!!!!

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Posted by: Malkavian.4516

Malkavian.4516

Thought I’d bump this thread to follow up on one issue that I believe you guys are working on along with a lot of stuff.

FOR SKYRIM!!!!!

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Posted by: Malkavian.4516

Malkavian.4516

Bumping this thread again to follow up.

FOR SKYRIM!!!!!

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

I just hope that with all the hype about an expansion won’t make the issues with NPE to be forgotten… I still wish to have fun playing my Personal Story and not be annoyed by too much dumbing down…

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Posted by: Katiekaboom.1980

Katiekaboom.1980

I just hope that with all the hype about an expansion won’t make the issues with NPE to be forgotten… I still wish to have fun playing my Personal Story and not be annoyed by too much dumbing down…

I agree. A lot of people I used to play with left out of boredom but now new players are frustrated as when I try helping them I didn’t know they couldn’t see the vistas or that they were story locked until level 10 and so on. It seems it was a lot more fun when I leveled then it is for them. How is this encouraging new players to play? It is more like it is an attempt to make players play they want Anet wants them to instead of the fun play as you like that I enjoyed with GW2. I have 5 80’s and thoroughly enjoyed the game. My friend Brian (the one who was confronted by not being able to get the vista) went back to WoW and my niece (who I bought the game for at $15 during this weekend sale) is confronted with NPC’s not working and starting story tutorial mission not finishing (Norn story won’t complete due to a door not opening or Eir not showing up or something). She is stuck at level 1 and left the game.

It seems not as fun as it used to be.. The story is now too spaced out (due to level blocks) and not so fluid. You are not feeling really apart of the story .. it is just another step .. and with things not available to low level characters there is no help that says “this will be available at this level but you can do this in the meantime”. They have to know to mouse over and wait and read the pop up that says what level it will be unlocked. At least off hand weapons says in red that it unlocks when you are level 7.

Is HOT up to your expectations or geared toward one type of player?
HOT is NOT for the Casual (My Sentiments exactly)

(edited by Katiekaboom.1980)

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Posted by: Ashendale.2165

Ashendale.2165

This has frankly been frustrating for everybody. New and old players.

The story maiming, level gating and disorganization. The dumbed down, limited gameplay. I wanted to level all my alts to 80, but I am not touching them until this is fixed. I was even considering throwing my money for extra character slots, but you won’t be seeing a penny for that until I can play “how I want”.

And how I want to play, is how I was allowed before this… I want to explore again, without being treated like I can’t breathe unless I’m listening to a track with “inhale, exhale” on loop. I want to slowly unlock my skills. If I want to level faster, I have several options: mist trains, experience booster, tomes, writs (feel free to insert more ways).

It honestly feels like you pushed this into the game, knowing that it was beyond idiotic, and tried to make up for it with experience boost for the first 20 levels. And went to the trouble to include even more ways of gaining experience added into the dailies.

I am locked out of weapon swap until level 17, for Pete’s sake. Are you afraid I might cut myself by having an extra sword on my hip?

I’ll tell you something you did good in all this mess: the dodge tutorial. Simple and efficient. Simple and efficient, like the game once was. Now it is just confusing and frustrating.

If (and I shudder that there is an “if” rather than a “when”) you are planning to fix this mess, might I suggest before the expansion? You had a merry increase in players with the past weekend’s promotion. I will assume most of them are capable, intelligent, human beings. Katiekaboom.1980 gave us the example of 2 people that left the game nearly as soon as they picked it up. Of course you got the dough in your pocket, but if wanted more (I’m looking at gem store items) you could have put a simple option at the start, like I said in a previous post.

Just give us the choice to play how we want. Just that. You don’t have to write much more code. You have the previous code.

I’ve seen people who like the changes. I’m not saying you take away their option. I would be behaving like you, saying “no, trust me, this is much better”. You gave us a different view (albeit forcefully), and some people actually liked it. Keep it, then. But please put back the previous one, as well.

Eat, sleep, play video games

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Posted by: iAsuno.9654

iAsuno.9654

Please give players the downed state right from the start. Newer players need it more.

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Posted by: Katiekaboom.1980

Katiekaboom.1980

I am locked out of weapon swap until level 17, for Pete’s sake. Are you afraid I might cut myself by having an extra sword on my hip?

I’ll tell you something you did good in all this mess: the dodge tutorial. Simple and efficient. Simple and efficient, like the game once was.

Ah yes that reminds me, I thought when you did the dodge tutorial the chest was supposed to have something in it. Today my niece tried that earlier on a new toon since the Norn story was broken and the chest had nothing in it. Now that it is opened there is no way she will get anything out of it in the future even if it is fixed.

I would rather the bugs (and new bugs) fixed rather than forcing us like mice in a cage down the path that you (Anet) think is best for us. It seems now after this weekend there are more bugs than ever but only on certain servers (I don’t understand that but it is what it is). I do like everything except how things are for new players. New players coming to the game are not happy.

Is HOT up to your expectations or geared toward one type of player?
HOT is NOT for the Casual (My Sentiments exactly)

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Posted by: Carighan.6758

Carighan.6758

Please give players the downed state right from the start. Newer players need it more.

Yes, this is my biggest issue.
It makes no sense. The downed state is an absolutely crucial concept to GW2, and should be explained as very much the very first thing when you come into the game. Keeping it from someone is exactly the opposite you need to do.

The strength of heart to face oneself has been made manifest. The persona Carighan has appeared.

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

Please give players the downed state right from the start. Newer players need it more.

Yes, this is my biggest issue.
It makes no sense. The downed state is an absolutely crucial concept to GW2, and should be explained as very much the very first thing when you come into the game. Keeping it from someone is exactly the opposite you need to do.

I didn’t follow it at that time but I found an article about what was announced before launch, if I’m not wrong downed state was highlighted as one of the differentials of GW2 over other MMOs or even GW1 itself, so wth removing it from new players? Seriously, day after day I understand less what logic people has been using in their softwares/games/etc… -_-

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Posted by: Zaxares.5419

Zaxares.5419

The most crucial thing to me regarding the NPE is whether or not they are re-introducing the story steps that were cut, as my characters are currently stuck and unable to progress with the Personal Story for fear of never being able to see previous game content should they bring them back.

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Posted by: BentoDetective.6491

BentoDetective.6491

Strictly, from a veteran player’s point of view, many aspects of the game are locked. Yes, the contents slowly unlock as you play. But compared to the old, everything seems painfully slow. Remember the good old days where you can enter PvP or WvW right from the get-go. Now, we have to level up a bit before being allowed entry. Limits and restrictions. Many areas of the game are locked behind countless barriers. Are new players so fragile that their minds would explode if given options? Many people like a fork in the road, so that they can choose their own paths.

I did read some good reviews, so I do try and keep an open mind. There are always two sides to a story. This post is my side.

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Posted by: Majic.4801

Majic.4801

Old Player Experience

About 90% of the grief the NPE has caused could have been prevented by simply “grandfathering” the accounts of existing players so they would not have to contend with all the restrictions being foisted on them after playing for as long as two years without them.

Instead, the NPE was dumped on veteran players in a manner similar to the NGE, with results that were just as predictable.

The idea that this could have come as a surprise to anyone at ArenaNet is frankly rather disturbing, and I hope isn’t going to manifest itself as a continuing trend.

GW2 is an outstanding game, but is plagued by bad decisions such as these and what seems to be a growing unwillingness to listen to what existing players are actually telling them.

Colin’s post in the Traits thread offers some hope, but antics such as the Great Trait Nerf and the NPE Fiasco have already pushed a lot of otherwise enthusiastic players away from the game.

Here’s hoping we’ll begin to see a greater sensitivity to how destructive sudden sweeping, ill-conceived changes can be to the existing player base, and greater care taken to avoid them except where absolutely necessary.

Iteration is a core principle of ArenaNet, and one I admire, and I’m not advising against innovation and experimentation, but please understand that in an increasingly competitive business, alienating loyal customers is a short-sighted and ultimately dead-end direction to take.

Sony Online Entertainment learned this lesson the hard way.

Bottom line: When customers tell you they dislike something, they won’t put up with it forever. Those who have already left the game over these sorts of missteps won’t even tell you that much.

“Not the same, real and true. True you feel inside.
Always follow what is true.” — Sentry-skritt Bordekka

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

Strictly, from a veteran player’s point of view, many aspects of the game are locked. Yes, the contents slowly unlock as you play. But compared to the old, everything seems painfully slow. Remember the good old days where you can enter PvP or WvW right from the get-go. Now, we have to level up a bit before being allowed entry. Limits and restrictions. Many areas of the game are locked behind countless barriers. Are new players so fragile that their minds would explode if given options? Many people like a fork in the road, so that they can choose their own paths.

I did read some good reviews, so I do try and keep an open mind. There are always two sides to a story. This post is my side.

Nope, you can enter PvP and WvW from level 2 if you want. Through the portals in Lion’s Arch.

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Posted by: Victory.2879

Victory.2879

Strictly, from a veteran player’s point of view, many aspects of the game are locked. Yes, the contents slowly unlock as you play. But compared to the old, everything seems painfully slow. Remember the good old days where you can enter PvP or WvW right from the get-go. Now, we have to level up a bit before being allowed entry. Limits and restrictions. Many areas of the game are locked behind countless barriers. Are new players so fragile that their minds would explode if given options? Many people like a fork in the road, so that they can choose their own paths.

I did read some good reviews, so I do try and keep an open mind. There are always two sides to a story. This post is my side.

Nope, you can enter PvP and WvW from level 2 if you want. Through the portals in Lion’s Arch.

Most new players and quite a few older ones won’t know that though. I must admit I didn’t know that until I saw a team member in eotm on my level 18 toon who was level 5 and asked him.

I’m not liking the NPE, all this level gating of stuff is very offputting. The number of times I had to explain in starter zones why people couldn’t see waypoints, nodes, vistas, etc on their map got tiring real quick, and when you explain it’s level locked the automatic response was ’that’s stupid’.

Victory, Beings Lost On Borderlands (BLOB), SFR & Gandara (inactive)

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

Strictly, from a veteran player’s point of view, many aspects of the game are locked. Yes, the contents slowly unlock as you play. But compared to the old, everything seems painfully slow. Remember the good old days where you can enter PvP or WvW right from the get-go. Now, we have to level up a bit before being allowed entry. Limits and restrictions. Many areas of the game are locked behind countless barriers. Are new players so fragile that their minds would explode if given options? Many people like a fork in the road, so that they can choose their own paths.

I did read some good reviews, so I do try and keep an open mind. There are always two sides to a story. This post is my side.

Nope, you can enter PvP and WvW from level 2 if you want. Through the portals in Lion’s Arch.

Most new players and quite a few older ones won’t know that though. I must admit I didn’t know that until I saw a team member in eotm on my level 18 toon who was level 5 and asked him.

I’m not liking the NPE, all this level gating of stuff is very offputting. The number of times I had to explain in starter zones why people couldn’t see waypoints, nodes, vistas, etc on their map got tiring real quick, and when you explain it’s level locked the automatic response was ’that’s stupid’.

New people don’t need to enter PvP or WvW till they learn some very basics. It takes a couple of hours to get high enough to get the lay of the land. It’s not unreasonable to allow new people to learn the basics of the game first. I don’t know why anyone thinks it is.

Older people, like you did, can find out. Saying something is locked, doesn’t make it locked. It’s the same with skill points. They’re only locked on the first character you level through the NPE. On each subsequent character they’re not locked.

Sure, it’s inconvenient to have to know stuff to play the game. But saying stuff is locked when it’s not isn’t great either.

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Posted by: Ashendale.2165

Ashendale.2165

Old Player Experience

About 90% of the grief the NPE has caused could have been prevented by simply “grandfathering” the accounts of existing players so they would not have to contend with all the restrictions being foisted on them after playing for as long as two years without them.

I’m interpreting this in two ways: by “grandfathering” are you saying completely excluding old players from the new leveling system? Or giving them a choice? They are trying to improve the game (I hope), and a complete exclusion from old players would punish new players (unless they were given one of two choices).

By allowing old players to try (again, as a choice) out a new system, old players would give far less angry feedback. It would be more constructive than this. Something on the lines of “I don’t like what you’ve done in X, tune it and I will proceed with testing”. Bordering on beta testing, I think.

GW2 is an outstanding game, but is plagued by bad decisions such as these and what seems to be a growing unwillingness to listen to what existing players are actually telling them.

It’s not that they’re unwilling to listen (and I say this in light of the info we got recently over the trait changes). I just find the process of tuning to be somewhat slow. And this is due to my (and other players) ignorance on how our feedback is analysed and processed. No argument on being a bad decision, only because it was force-fed to us.

antics such as the Great Trait Nerf and the NPE Fiasco have already pushed a lot of otherwise enthusiastic players away from the game.

I’ve been seeing too much of this. It is saddening. Specially when it’s people who buy and immediately drop the game. It is frustrating in a way that makes them say “I don’t care how good the rest of the game is, but I’m not putting up with this”.

Here’s hoping we’ll begin to see a greater sensitivity to how destructive sudden sweeping, ill-conceived changes can be to the existing player base, and greater care taken to avoid them except where absolutely necessary.

It is necessary whenever they want to bring new players. And that is at all times. Remember, we don’t have to pay for anything else other than the copy of the game. Let them make profit and bring more people.

Eat, sleep, play video games

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Posted by: shadow.6174

shadow.6174

Saying something is locked, doesn’t make it locked. It’s the same with skill points. They’re only locked on the first character you level through the NPE. On each subsequent character they’re not locked.

Sure, it’s inconvenient to have to know stuff to play the game. But saying stuff is locked when it’s not isn’t great either.

Well, for the time you are leveling that first character the things are YES locked, so YES they are locked, period. In real life you don’t face a gate or door locked and say “no, it’s not locked because it will be unlocked later”, you see it locked and it’s really locked, period. And the duration of leveling a first char is very enough to get someone frustrated and quit even before they would even have the “chance” to see it unlocked with a new char.

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Posted by: Majic.4801

Majic.4801

Like Grandpa Used To Say

I’m interpreting this in two ways: by “grandfathering” are you saying completely excluding old players from the new leveling system? Or giving them a choice?

Characters created before the NPE hit have all the previously existing traits unlocked, even if they were level 1. Characters created after the NPE are subject to all the restrictions inherent to the NPE.

That exclusion mechanism is/was already in place, so applying it to all new characters created on an existing account is what I think should have been done, and would have avoided alienating a large number of players.

Prodigal Children

In my case, altaholic that I am, I have a couple of sub-80 characters who were grandfathered with traits unlocked, but still suffer from the “delayed development syndrome” that makes them too tedious to play.

I also created three characters after the NPE to give the new system “a fair go”, but all three are stagnating in their low 30s because playing them without traits for so many levels was so boring I just couldn’t maintain interest. Until that changes, I won’t be leveling them at all.

In the meantime, I already have 27 level 80s, so I just play them when I do play — which is a lot less than before the NPE struck.

I enjoy creating new characters and enjoyed leveling each and every one of those 27 level 80s from start to finish, but I can’t stand playing sub-80 characters at all since the NPE.

It is literally intolerable to me, which is why I went from daily play to stopping in for a few days every now and then and going off to other interests for weeks or months at a time.

If ArenaNet had simply let me continue enjoying the game instead of treating me like a “new player”, none of this would really be an issue to me — or anyone else in the same boat, which is my point.

But since they screwed it up, that’s not the case. We don’t have a choice, except to either play the “new way” or not play.

Turnover Filling

I agree that “unwilling to listen” isn’t a fair way to characterize ArenaNet’s approach. They have always been willing to listen and quite gracious about even the most blunt of feedback, which is awesome.

I think a more accurate way for me to describe it would be an apparent unwillingness to consider the negative consequences of decisions like these on established players. Or maybe they don’t care.

I’m trying not to sound glib; I honestly don’t know. With so may months having gone by, it’s hard not to feel like they expected N% of players to quit over the NPE but considered it worth that cost in exchange for perceived benefits to new players.

Which sort of dovetails with your final comment: they need to bring in new players. I’m all for that.

But if the tradeoff is losing existing players, it’s worth considering that new players eventually become old players, and if the game is indifferent to retention, they all inevitably become ex-players.

Like too many good people I no longer have the option of playing with, because they left over this, and I don’t think they’ll be coming back anytime soon.

“Not the same, real and true. True you feel inside.
Always follow what is true.” — Sentry-skritt Bordekka

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Posted by: Ashendale.2165

Ashendale.2165

I’m trying not to sound glib; I honestly don’t know. With so may months having gone by, it’s hard not to feel like they expected N% of players to quit over the NPE but considered it worth that cost in exchange for perceived benefits to new players.

Which sort of dovetails with your final comment: they need to bring in new players. I’m all for that.

Exactly. But the behavior doesn’t make much sense. Sure they get more money in their pockets from selling a copy. But the long term (greater) gain from the Gem Shop (because, let’s face it: the temptation is there and most of us end up giving in) is gone:
1- Buy game
2- No likey
3- Leave
4- ???
5- No profit

Edit:
I wanted to buy more slots. I wanted to level more characters. I’ve been itching for months. But I won’t. Not like this. It just saddens me…

Eat, sleep, play video games

(edited by Ashendale.2165)

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Posted by: Majic.4801

Majic.4801

Hidden Costs

Exactly. But the behavior doesn’t make much sense. Sure they get more money in their pockets from selling a copy. But the long term (greater) gain from the Gem Shop (because, let’s face it: the temptation is there and most of us end up giving in) is gone

I’m sure ArenaNet knows this, and certainly has the numbers to know what’s profitable and what’s not. My sense is that they’re quite savvy about such matters, so I’m not worried about that.

Determining what keeps people from playing, however, absent exit questionnaires, can be trickier, and the official forums of any game are notorious for painting a misleading picture of what players like and don’t like — which is why, despite all the negative feedback in these forums, I can understand why ArenaNet didn’t and wouldn’t act solely on what’s posted here.

Lest my previous posts give the wrong impression, I’m not suggesting they don’t care about existing players — I think they do — but it’s much too easy to feel otherwise when something really bad happens to the game and they don’t seem to notice or care for months on end.

Granted, that’s just how it can “feel” and I don’t think ArenaNet is consciously apathetic to the player base.

But man if it doesn’t feel that way sometimes, and anything they can do to reassure distressed players otherwise definitely earns appreciation.

Anyway, I realize this has all been more of a rant than constructive criticism, and am sorry about that. But it’s been good to at least get this off my chest, so thanks for your patience in all this.

And now, ironically enough, despite Colin’s recent comments and the big Heart of Thorns reveal, the current reality is that things are no different today than they were yesterday, and like my former GW2 partners, I find my interests wandering to other pursuits.

Here’s hoping, however, that next time I check back, the light at the end of this dark NPE tunnel will be both closer and brighter.

“Not the same, real and true. True you feel inside.
Always follow what is true.” — Sentry-skritt Bordekka

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Posted by: Ashendale.2165

Ashendale.2165

Constructive criticism. Now that something that should be seen more often on this thread. But it’s hard to give constructive criticism on something that was, by what I think may be the majority, hailed as good. Something that was received well by critics and was one of the high points of the game, when it came out.

Constructive criticism right now is “put it back like it was”. I never thought to myself, until this is was in effect, that the leveling could be improved. They managed to get it mostly right on first try. I’m sure there may have been posts giving good ideas for improvement, but I cannot, for the life in me, think what kind of advise (from players) led to this.

I see this as a change that was put from the higher management. People who only see number, played 5 minutes (if any at all), never played other games and made decisions based on mostly ignorance (gameplay-wise). If they actually had played other games to compare, I can assume the directives given were equivalent to “can you make it more proactive?”(a favorite from managers, along with pearls like “no-brainer” or “value-added”), or classics like “can you make it more like WoW?”.

A game that is fundamentally different than any other before seen, that has success by being different, is changed to be just another brick in the wall. I’m not going on name calling mostly because I like my forum privileges. But most of you can pull from memory some adjectives for these people.

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Posted by: Mental Paradox.3845

Mental Paradox.3845

How hard can it be to make the NPE toggleable? Say, once you’ve reached level 80 on ANY character on your account, your new characters will be able to play without it.

Or just a toggle option in “options”.

“Play how you want” was the credo, right??

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Posted by: VodCom.6924

VodCom.6924

How hard can it be to make the NPE toggleable? Say, once you’ve reached level 80 on ANY character on your account, your new characters will be able to play without it.

Or just a toggle option in “options”.

“Play how you want” was the credo, right??

Toggle it and say bye bye to the rewards ? Who would do this ?

Known as Reegar Else, Linda Else, Xiana Else and Thorgall Breakstone

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Posted by: Ybrahim.2084

Ybrahim.2084

I just came back to check on the state of GW2, but I see 9 months and literally thousands of people telling Anet they hate the NPE and nothing has changed. This is not very encouraging.

Am I wrong? I was thinking of coming back, but I don’t want to waste time on the same old same old with a shiny paint job.

-Matt

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Posted by: Vayne.8563

Vayne.8563

Saying something is locked, doesn’t make it locked. It’s the same with skill points. They’re only locked on the first character you level through the NPE. On each subsequent character they’re not locked.

Sure, it’s inconvenient to have to know stuff to play the game. But saying stuff is locked when it’s not isn’t great either.

Well, for the time you are leveling that first character the things are YES locked, so YES they are locked, period. In real life you don’t face a gate or door locked and say “no, it’s not locked because it will be unlocked later”, you see it locked and it’s really locked, period. And the duration of leveling a first char is very enough to get someone frustrated and quit even before they would even have the “chance” to see it unlocked with a new char.

I disagree with this. The amount of people who are brand new to the game and who have no idea, would see this locked stuff as normal and not think twice about it.

Because you know, people are reacting as if this stuff wasn’t locked before and much of it was. That is to say, you couldn’t weapon swap before till level 7. The amount of time it used to take to get to level 7 is about the same amount of time it now takes to get to level 15.

We didn’t have skills unlock until levels 10, 15 and 20 before, and it’s faster to get to the levels now were skills unlock.

People are blinded by numbers, but the new players don’t have those numbers. Just as getting your level 30 elite skill was always gated, and no one complained about it, new players won’t complain about this either.

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Posted by: Ashendale.2165

Ashendale.2165

How hard can it be to make the NPE toggleable? Say, once you’ve reached level 80 on ANY character on your account, your new characters will be able to play without it.

Or just a toggle option in “options”.

“Play how you want” was the credo, right??

Toggle it and say bye bye to the rewards ? Who would do this ?

Honestly? The rewards are kind of meh, if you know what to do. It’s pure goading.

But if that is a choice I’d be confronted with: yes. I would toss them aside in a heartbeat.

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