Guild Wars 2

What makes you think that the increased grind is a cash shop move? It’s pretty annoying, sure, but I don’t see how the extra time spent leveling serves to benefit ArenaNet at all.

You obviously have experience from other games before, and you know how to observe your environment and adapt to your surrounding situation. And you know how to write coherent sentences on a forum.

So unfortunately you’re not the target audience to qualify as a “new player” anymore, that role has taken by people who have trouble grasping the mechanic of picking up a bucket or dying in result of combat. Remember, ANet has metric data to support this.

Feel free to become a disgruntled veteran, though, you’re not alone!

All their testers were over the age 40

Nihilus.3015:

All their testers were over the age 40

Hey I’m almost 40 and if anything these new updates make me feel like I’m 5 again or should be that age to play this game….

Nihilus.3015:

All their testers were over the age 40

really? So it’s an age thing? Keep in mind most MMO players over 40 came from those “walking uphill both ways in the snow” times of games like everquest which was much harder and grindier then any mmo’s that are released nowadays, with zero tutorials or anything telling you how to play or what to do next.. and only the community to rely on and outside sources. I would hazard to guess there are more new generation players that want things spoon fed rather then the old schoolers.. and I know plenty of over 40 players who have only gotten better at games and don’t mind the work to figure stuff out.

My boyfriend and I vought guildearymbecause we wanted to play an mmo. Not everything was familiar or intuitive in the beginning but it really wans’t hard to figure out

People who don’t specifically look for an mmo to buy – those who might be more challenged by new game concepts – don’t go and buy an mmo. No matter how du,bed down te tutorial (or the entire first half of the game) is – they won’t even get in here to see it.

If GW2 had a free to play preview mode, maybe. Probably not even then.

But it doesn’t. It is pay-first.

Why is ANet pandering to a demographic who will not participate in their “buy first”?

How were those thousands of confused test players selected/invited? Off the street?

Traveller.7496:

And you know how to write coherent sentences on a forum.

This made my day.

And to answer the earlier question, I used to play RIFT, where they did a very similar thing (ruined the starter experience/general leveling experience to attract new players), and it slowly started looking like they wanted a pay to win environment. You -could- technically get things in-game, but they made it hell to do so. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress here as well. My highest toon is still under 50 as of this post, so I don’t know what the “second half” quite has in store. That alone is probably the most optimistic thing to drive me to keep going.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Why is ANet pandering to a demographic who will not participate in their “buy first”?

There’s been some evidence of a trial version lurking around in the datamines people have done.

Even so, I really don’t think that many 60+ non-gamers will install it.

Usually, these people are non-gamers because this sort of game just doesn’t appeal to them in the first place, not because they’re really insterested in trying it and then find it too hard.

Nihilus.3015:

All their testers were over the age 40

More like under the age of 18 seeing how it seems to cater to people that still need training wheels on their games, Mouthbreather.

Back on topic,

For the last few weeks I’ve tried to get my sister to play gw2 with me. She lives on another continent and it’d be nice to have a virtual place to hang out. So far, she hasn’t had time to give it a go.

Now what am I supposed to tell her?

“This game is really fun and interesting! You’ll see as soon as you hit level 40!”

That’s… not going to happen, guys.

Solitaire.3680:

Nihilus.3015:

All their testers were over the age 40

really? So it’s an age thing? Keep in mind most MMO players over 40 came from those “walking uphill both ways in the snow” times of games like everquest which was much harder and grindier then any mmo’s that are released nowadays, with zero tutorials or anything telling you how to play or what to do next.. and only the community to rely on and outside sources. I would hazard to guess there are more new generation players that want things spoon fed rather then the old schoolers.. and I know plenty of over 40 players who have only gotten better at games and don’t mind the work to figure stuff out.

This.

I’ve been a tester in every game I’ve purchased over the last 15 years, and I’ve been over 40 for 17 years.

As for “don’t mind the work to figure stuff out”, I’ll point at Raph Koster’s book (A Theory of Fun) and his comment that “fun is in the learning.”

Yeah, us old fuddy-duddies have been warning game developers to not dumb down their games for quite some time (including ANet). But, as I said in another post earlier today, it’s a different market segment that has the greatest potential these days.

According to analysts, there’s a huge Asian market available, specifically Korea, and there are things, overall, in this “feature pack” that appear to be carefully aimed at that particular audience. (see: dumbing down of UI, leveling process, etcetera… things some of us warned ANet not to do over a year ago).

“Too confusing” is the key phrase. It’s been proven before in closed door testing with another game, that players in that particular segment will refuse to do anything (staring at a screen without playing) if they don’t understand exactly (led by the hand) what it is they are supposed to do .

Some of the folks in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and yes, 80’s may not enjoy the Nintendo-style platform play as much as younger players with better dexterity, but some of us thrive on games that demand thinking, exploring and problem solving.

And no, I’m not a casual.

Back on Topic: @OP, that was a nicely expressed post. I’m sorry you have not had the joy many of us had with this game for as long as we did. Hopefully you will find enough to keep you satisfied here, and if not, I wish you happy gaming wherever you may land.

jonoth.2308:

Where I used to have a couple skills to already experiment with and enjoy when I reached the opening “boss”, I now had one button. Press that button, watch. Watch. Watch. Watch. Maybe heal. Watch. Watch.

That´s exactly what Anet wants to teach you as a new player: autoattack for the win

So as an experienced MMO player you enjoyed every game you tried. All games where exactly the same after a year or two as at release and forums where a place of harmony and joy.

jonoth.2308:

Where I used to have a couple skills to already experiment with and enjoy when I reached the opening “boss”, I now had one button. Press that button, watch. Watch. Watch. Watch. Maybe heal. Watch. Watch.

So anyone absent during LS1 can experience what it was.

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

jonoth.2308:

Traveller.7496:

And you know how to write coherent sentences on a forum.

This made my day.

And to answer the earlier question, I used to play RIFT, where they did a very similar thing (ruined the starter experience/general leveling experience to attract new players), and it slowly started looking like they wanted a pay to win environment. You -could- technically get things in-game, but they made it hell to do so. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress here as well. My highest toon is still under 50 as of this post, so I don’t know what the “second half” quite has in store. That alone is probably the most optimistic thing to drive me to keep going.

RIFT had a lot of potential when it released, it was breaking new ground, they were throwing content over the wall at an incredible pace.

RIFT changed a lot more subtly over time (starting about 6 months out), than GW2 has.

Trion ended up “flailing”, trying to serve one set of customers at the expense of others, changing course, until it managed to alienate just about every segment of players, including those who “fell through the cracks”.

It was the precautionary tale we walked into GW2 with, only to see it play out again starting 3 months after GW2 release.

/shakes head

Paradox.1380:

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

The thing is, for me at least, the time it takes to get from point A to point B isn’t an issue. Whether I actually enjoy getting from A to B is. So by spacing out the story elements more, and taking away the discovery aspect of a new class’ weapon skills, it means that rather than doing something continuously engaging from the start, it’s all tedium. I’d gladly accept slower leveling on the condition that it’s fun and interesting leveling.

Paradox.1380:

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

30 minutes, huh? I just spent 20 minutes on a new warrior, and I’ve just hit level 4. 20 minutes of utter boredom, where every fight consists of pressing 2, then 1, then waiting. Not a single weapon or armour drop, and the only usable quest reward being… another almost identical sword, which doesn’t give me any extra power until offhand weapon unlocks in 3 more levels.

Varakkys.2490:

Paradox.1380:

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

30 minutes, huh? I just spent 20 minutes on a new warrior, and I’ve just hit level 4. 20 minutes of utter boredom, where every fight consists of pressing 2, then 1, then waiting. Not a single weapon or armour drop, and the only usable quest reward being… another almost identical sword, which doesn’t give me any extra power until offhand weapon unlocks in 3 more levels.

I’ve also had an experience like this on a new warrior I thought about making. Right now I don’t want to play at all, and if I did, I would be forced to use scrolls to just skip the first 15 levels of the kitten game. The “tutorial” is the opening sequence, NOT levels 1-15.

Varakkys.2490:

Paradox.1380:

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

30 minutes, huh? I just spent 20 minutes on a new warrior, and I’ve just hit level 4. 20 minutes of utter boredom, where every fight consists of pressing 2, then 1, then waiting. Not a single weapon or armour drop, and the only usable quest reward being… another almost identical sword, which doesn’t give me any extra power until offhand weapon unlocks in 3 more levels.

A assume your’e grinding or not doing events, because every heart fills the bar about 33%. Three hearts gives you a level. With events in the mix, you go up very fast. I’ll test it on a warrior later. It’s certainly faster on my ranger.

jonoth.2308:

Paradox.1380:

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

The thing is, for me at least, the time it takes to get from point A to point B isn’t an issue. Whether I actually enjoy getting from A to B is. So by spacing out the story elements more, and taking away the discovery aspect of a new class’ weapon skills, it means that rather than doing something continuously engaging from the start, it’s all tedium. I’d gladly accept slower leveling on the condition that it’s fun and interesting leveling.

The personal story is one of the weakest aspects of this game. It’s been said time and time ago by many people. I don’t think the story itself is weak (though it is uneven in places) but I do believe that it was let down by the fact that the story is told in 10 level incriments and that you have to keep interupting your story to level a bit.

That’s something that doesn’t happen now. You get a contiguous story arc that you can play through with no interruptions.

This improved the story for me.

Vayne.8563:

Varakkys.2490:

Paradox.1380:

i’m confused? It took me maybe 30 minutes max to hit level ten (the level at which at you unlock all your basic weapon skills) getting to 15 where the rest of it and a utility unlock took me another 20ish minute because the way the personal story steps are now that got me almost all the way to 15, and finishing dailies pushed me over. I had no problems with this system at all and the best part is I don’t have to go back and kill 20-30 monsters for every weapon. I just go and they are all unlocked.

30 minutes, huh? I just spent 20 minutes on a new warrior, and I’ve just hit level 4. 20 minutes of utter boredom, where every fight consists of pressing 2, then 1, then waiting. Not a single weapon or armour drop, and the only usable quest reward being… another almost identical sword, which doesn’t give me any extra power until offhand weapon unlocks in 3 more levels.

A assume your’e grinding or not doing events, because every heart fills the bar about 33%. Three hearts gives you a level. With events in the mix, you go up very fast. I’ll test it on a warrior later. It’s certainly faster on my ranger.

I did the (human) start instance which left me at level 2, then the farm heart which almost took me to 3, then the kill drakes/eggs heart which took me to 4. No events spawned at all during that time. The sword was the level 3 reward. Hearts are half a level, btw.

Nihilus.3015:

All their testers were over the age 40

Whoa. I’m 52, junior. I could just as easily say that the testers were teenagers and 20-somethings who have been coddled all of their lives, and have the attention spans of gnats…oooo….squirrel!

Solitaire.3680:

I would hazard to guess there are more new generation players that want things spoon fed rather then the old schoolers.. and I know plenty of over 40 players who have only gotten better at games and don’t mind the work to figure stuff out.

That’s not really true. The younger generation can pick up a game instantly and speed through impressively. I know because most of my gamer friends fit into that age range. It is the older player base that needs the spoon feeding and hand holding.

Most e-sport pros retire in their later 20’s because their reflexes and decision making ability diminish around that time. My six year old can pick up a game without any tutorial, gaming is definitely for the younger generation. I am just trying to live out my glory days still.

I believe gw2 is pandering to the older generation with the money? Because there is no hard mode in this game. Been a gamer all my life, grew up with four brothers. Played console and various mmo. Even playing moba which is the most competitive, the hardest part of this game for me is movement control and skipping Arah trash mob.

layzoe.6035:

Solitaire.3680:

I would hazard to guess there are more new generation players that want things spoon fed rather then the old schoolers.. and I know plenty of over 40 players who have only gotten better at games and don’t mind the work to figure stuff out.

That’s not really true. The younger generation can pick up a game instantly and speed through impressively. I know because most of my gamer friends fit into that age range. It is the older player base that needs the spoon feeding and hand holding.

Most e-sport pros retire in their later 20’s because their reflexes and decision making ability diminish around that time. My six year old can pick up a game without any tutorial, gaming is definitely for the younger generation. I am just trying to live out my glory days still.

I believe gw2 is pandering to the older generation with the money? Because there is no hard mode in this game. Been a gamer all my life, grew up with four brothers. Played console and various mmo. Even playing moba which is the most competitive, the hardest part of this game for me is movement control and skipping Arah trash mob.

Bwaahaahaaa!!! We older folks past the half-century mark have been playing video games since Pong was first introduced. We’ve learned more and seen more change and adapted more longer than kids today have been alive.

These patch changes are a direct insult to our decades of experience as gamers. This patch doesn’t cater to old folks, that’s for kitten sure.

jonoth.2308:

Traveller.7496:

And you know how to write coherent sentences on a forum.

This made my day.

And to answer the earlier question, I used to play RIFT, where they did a very similar thing (ruined the starter experience/general leveling experience to attract new players), and it slowly started looking like they wanted a pay to win environment. You -could- technically get things in-game, but they made it hell to do so. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress here as well. My highest toon is still under 50 as of this post, so I don’t know what the “second half” quite has in store. That alone is probably the most optimistic thing to drive me to keep going.

I feel really odd for writing this, since I’m usually criticizing the GW2 “endgame”, but compared to this new player experience, it will get better once you are higher level. You have all your skills, abilities, traits, the world is your oyster. Too bad the leveling used to be fun too, but of course, new players don’t know what they are missing, so maybe it goes according to ANet’s plan.

layzoe.6035:

Solitaire.3680:

I would hazard to guess there are more new generation players that want things spoon fed rather then the old schoolers.. and I know plenty of over 40 players who have only gotten better at games and don’t mind the work to figure stuff out.

That’s not really true. The younger generation can pick up a game instantly and speed through impressively. I know because most of my gamer friends fit into that age range. It is the older player base that needs the spoon feeding and hand holding.

Most e-sport pros retire in their later 20’s because their reflexes and decision making ability diminish around that time. My six year old can pick up a game without any tutorial, gaming is definitely for the younger generation. I am just trying to live out my glory days still.

I believe gw2 is pandering to the older generation with the money? Because there is no hard mode in this game. Been a gamer all my life, grew up with four brothers. Played console and various mmo. Even playing moba which is the most competitive, the hardest part of this game for me is movement control and skipping Arah trash mob.

They are DEFINITELY not pandering to the older generation. Far from it. GW2 has become an utter insult and I feel like a fully grown adult man (which I am) being forced to ride a 3 year old’s tricycle to cross a street.

TheAgedGnome.7520:

layzoe.6035:

Solitaire.3680:

I would hazard to guess there are more new generation players that want things spoon fed rather then the old schoolers.. and I know plenty of over 40 players who have only gotten better at games and don’t mind the work to figure stuff out.

That’s not really true. The younger generation can pick up a game instantly and speed through impressively. I know because most of my gamer friends fit into that age range. It is the older player base that needs the spoon feeding and hand holding.

Most e-sport pros retire in their later 20’s because their reflexes and decision making ability diminish around that time. My six year old can pick up a game without any tutorial, gaming is definitely for the younger generation. I am just trying to live out my glory days still.

I believe gw2 is pandering to the older generation with the money? Because there is no hard mode in this game. Been a gamer all my life, grew up with four brothers. Played console and various mmo. Even playing moba which is the most competitive, the hardest part of this game for me is movement control and skipping Arah trash mob.

Bwaahaahaaa!!! We older folks past the half-century mark have been playing video games since Pong was first introduced. We’ve learned more and seen more change and adapted more longer than kids today have been alive.

These patch changes are a direct insult to our decades of experience as gamers. This patch doesn’t cater to old folks, that’s for kitten sure.

Well I am 36 so I can say that I am of the older generation of gamers. I guess that’s true that older players are more adaptable and patient. However, I still remember when RS came out with eoc, so many players were upset and could not adapt at all. This is prob one of the oldest mmo out there. To the point that that they made old school RS that has the graphics that was around 1997. Sort of like playing with Atari I guess.

It’s probably insult to all gamers, old and young, veterans and new players. Encouraging new players to spam 1 is not really beneficial to this community.

The changes aren’t designed for young or old players. As it has been said, all of them can get their hands on much more difficult games, as long as they are in NA/EU. I don’t think it’s an age issue, but more a cultural issue. This game is not anymore for NA/EU players, it’s for Asiatics players. I have nothing against asiatic people, I’m sure they are as smart and nice people as NA/EU, but it seems they have different culture of MMO, and this game is now tagerted to them.
Maybe they should have shut down NA/EU servers, and they will probably do so sooner or later. For now we are lucky, the game is still available in English and 5 different European languages, but if you plan to continue playing this game maybe you should consider learning Chineese or Korean.

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

The changes aren’t designed for young or old players. As it has been said, all of them can get their hands on much more difficult games, as long as they are in NA/EU. I don’t think it’s an age issue, but more a cultural issue. This game is not anymore for NA/EU players, it’s for Asiatics players. I have nothing against asiatic people, I’m sure they are as smart and nice people as NA/EU, but it seems they have different culture of MMO, and this game is now tagerted to them.
Maybe they should have shut down NA/EU servers, and they will probably do so sooner or later. For now we are lucky, the game is still available in English and 5 different European languages, but if you plan to continue playing this game maybe you should consider learning Chineese or Korean.

Before you make very inaccurate and ludicrous statements which borders on racism.. you should read this, “Why Gamers in Asia are the World’s Best E Sport Athletes” Taken from the article: Hardcore games, ubiquitous tech, and Asia’s economic rise helped the PC trounce consoles to become the dominant pro gaming platform.

I really feel bad for Anet right now, because it must have been a lot of work and I bet they truly wanted to improve it, but I just don’t get why is it good. So basically all the limitations should serve new players and help them to slowly experience every single part of the game, but I still see it as counterproductive.

Curiosity is a huge part of new player experience, and it just feels like that I’m walking into a restaurant and the waiter is telling me, that I cannot have a menu, until I taste the daily special. I mean if a new player is capable of using, learning, unterstanding new skill and aspects of the game, why hold him back? I’m pretty sure if someone is confused by the game (A) he will go with autoattacks by his own will until he is comfortable with using more (B) ask around in mapchat and experience the helpful community of the game and feel welcomed.

I had no problem at all with leveling up 2 years ago, since then I leveled up many alts, most of them with 100% world completion and I’m still waiting since april to level up an engi. Created one a couple of weeks ago, because I hoped you will redesign the trait-system, and now I will wait more. It’s just time consuming and I wouldn’t like to waste significantly more time on leveling an alt, because I want to play the Living Story (which is great by the way) or participate in the WvW season.

The best thing would be to go back to our roots with leveling, because it was perfectly fine. I’m not against changes, I loved most of the improvements you have done so far, but this particular think failed I’m afraid (although one thing I like, the built-in tutorials on starting maps, that was a good idea).

I just really want to understand your side of the story, because I get that you wanted to help new players, I just don’t get that why did you think dumbing/slowing down leveling is helpful. I even give you that you might be right, I just cannot see the benefits of it all.

In case you still believe in your new system, at least you can please the experienced players by allowing them to get traits in bulk (like the old way – you can even raise the price of trait books, I don’t care) and give them an opportunity to start from a higher level. For example I would happily mystic forge level-20 scrolls to upgrade them into level-40-60-80 ones.

All in all I feel bad for the new players, because they will reach the awesome parts of this game so much slower then we did, and I feel bad for Anet, because they must have worked a lot on this change and I know that I won’t level up my alt until it is fixed.

Old player has regrets.

layzoe.6035:

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

The changes aren’t designed for young or old players. As it has been said, all of them can get their hands on much more difficult games, as long as they are in NA/EU. I don’t think it’s an age issue, but more a cultural issue. This game is not anymore for NA/EU players, it’s for Asiatics players. I have nothing against asiatic people, I’m sure they are as smart and nice people as NA/EU, but it seems they have different culture of MMO, and this game is now tagerted to them.
Maybe they should have shut down NA/EU servers, and they will probably do so sooner or later. For now we are lucky, the game is still available in English and 5 different European languages, but if you plan to continue playing this game maybe you should consider learning Chineese or Korean.

Before you make very inaccurate and ludicrous statements which borders on racism.. you should read this, “Why Gamers in Asia are the World’s Best E Sport Athletes” Taken from the article: Hardcore games, ubiquitous tech, and Asia’s economic rise helped the PC trounce consoles to become the dominant pro gaming platform.

Racism ? really ? As I said I have nothing gainst asiatic people, and actually asiatic doesn’t mean anything, since they are a lot of different countries/cultures in Asia.
I know how good they are at e-sport, and as I said they are as smart as NA/EU people (and as nice too, maybe more). But it has been said officialy that most of theses changes are designed for China market.

I don’t think it’s racism to say that people around the world have different cultures. Some people likes to eat insects, some people prefers to eat cats or dogs, some people prefer to eat cow or chicken, and personnaly, last week i ate frogs. Who is wrong, who is right ? No one, we have all ours ways, and it’s fine. But if someone start to put insects in my daily salad, I will not like, but I can understand some people will. If I want to eat the same salad everyday, I will have to learn a different cultures, and be used to it. Or I could eat another salad, it’s up to me. But I don’t think there is anything racist in my salad…

CyClotroniC.4957:

I really feel bad for Anet right now, because it must have been a lot of work and I bet they truly wanted to improve it, but I just don’t get why is it good. So basically all the limitations should serve new players and help them to slowly experience every single part of the game, but I still see it as counterproductive.

Curiosity is a huge part of new player experience, and it just feels like that I’m walking into a restaurant and the waiter is telling me, that I cannot have a menu, until I taste the daily special. I mean if a new player is capable of using, learning, unterstanding new skill and aspects of the game, why hold him back? I’m pretty sure if someone is confused by the game (A) he will go with autoattacks by his own will until he is comfortable with using more (B) ask around in mapchat and experience the helpful community of the game and feel welcomed.

I had no problem at all with leveling up 2 years ago, since then I leveled up many alts, most of them with 100% world completion and I’m still waiting since april to level up an engi. Created one a couple of weeks ago, because I hoped you will redesign the trait-system, and now I will wait more. It’s just time consuming and I wouldn’t like to waste significantly more time on leveling an alt, because I want to play the Living Story (which is great by the way) or participate in the WvW season.

The best thing would be to go back to our roots with leveling, because it was perfectly fine. I’m not against changes, I loved most of the improvements you have done so far, but this particular think failed I’m afraid (although one thing I like, the built-in tutorials on starting maps, that was a good idea).

I just really want to understand your side of the story, because I get that you wanted to help new players, I just don’t get that why did you think dumbing/slowing down leveling is helpful. I even give you that you might be right, I just cannot see the benefits of it all.

In case you still believe in your new system, at least you can please the experienced players by allowing them to get traits in bulk (like the old way – you can even raise the price of trait books, I don’t care) and give them an opportunity to start from a higher level. For example I would happily mystic forge level-20 scrolls to upgrade them into level-40-60-80 ones.

All in all I feel bad for the new players, because they will reach the awesome parts of this game so much slower then we did, and I feel bad for Anet, because they must have worked a lot on this change and I know that I won’t level up my alt until it is fixed.

I agree with all of this.

CyClotroniC.4957:

I really feel bad for Anet right now, because it must have been a lot of work and I bet they truly wanted to improve it, but I just don’t get why is it good. So basically all the limitations should serve new players and help them to slowly experience every single part of the game, but I still see it as counterproductive.

Curiosity is a huge part of new player experience, and it just feels like that I’m walking into a restaurant and the waiter is telling me, that I cannot have a menu, until I taste the daily special. I mean if a new player is capable of using, learning, unterstanding new skill and aspects of the game, why hold him back? I’m pretty sure if someone is confused by the game (A) he will go with autoattacks by his own will until he is comfortable with using more (B) ask around in mapchat and experience the helpful community of the game and feel welcomed.

I had no problem at all with leveling up 2 years ago, since then I leveled up many alts, most of them with 100% world completion and I’m still waiting since april to level up an engi. Created one a couple of weeks ago, because I hoped you will redesign the trait-system, and now I will wait more. It’s just time consuming and I wouldn’t like to waste significantly more time on leveling an alt, because I want to play the Living Story (which is great by the way) or participate in the WvW season.

The best thing would be to go back to our roots with leveling, because it was perfectly fine. I’m not against changes, I loved most of the improvements you have done so far, but this particular think failed I’m afraid (although one thing I like, the built-in tutorials on starting maps, that was a good idea).

I just really want to understand your side of the story, because I get that you wanted to help new players, I just don’t get that why did you think dumbing/slowing down leveling is helpful. I even give you that you might be right, I just cannot see the benefits of it all.

In case you still believe in your new system, at least you can please the experienced players by allowing them to get traits in bulk (like the old way – you can even raise the price of trait books, I don’t care) and give them an opportunity to start from a higher level. For example I would happily mystic forge level-20 scrolls to upgrade them into level-40-60-80 ones.

All in all I feel bad for the new players, because they will reach the awesome parts of this game so much slower then we did, and I feel bad for Anet, because they must have worked a lot on this change and I know that I won’t level up my alt until it is fixed.

I think as you get further on in the leveling process, you’ll see exactly why it’s good.

I think their focus groups were too focused on people who don’t play games.

Who is more likely to play GW2? A non-gamer or a gamer?

Anet screwed up kitten these changes, but I don’t expect them to change it.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

“This game is really fun and interesting! You’ll see as soon as you hit level 40!”

Considering my friend had to tell me “Aw, you should’ve hung in there until level 14, that’s when it really picks up” about WildStar, but I was bored to tears at 13…

Yeah, I can’t see how I’d recommend GW2 to my friends anymore. :\

Vayne.8563:

I think as you get further on in the leveling process, you’ll see exactly why it’s good.

Says one of ANet’s PR employees.

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

layzoe.6035:

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

The changes aren’t designed for young or old players. As it has been said, all of them can get their hands on much more difficult games, as long as they are in NA/EU. I don’t think it’s an age issue, but more a cultural issue. This game is not anymore for NA/EU players, it’s for Asiatics players. I have nothing against asiatic people, I’m sure they are as smart and nice people as NA/EU, but it seems they have different culture of MMO, and this game is now tagerted to them.
Maybe they should have shut down NA/EU servers, and they will probably do so sooner or later. For now we are lucky, the game is still available in English and 5 different European languages, but if you plan to continue playing this game maybe you should consider learning Chineese or Korean.

Before you make very inaccurate and ludicrous statements which borders on racism.. you should read this, “Why Gamers in Asia are the World’s Best E Sport Athletes” Taken from the article: Hardcore games, ubiquitous tech, and Asia’s economic rise helped the PC trounce consoles to become the dominant pro gaming platform.

Racism ? really ? As I said I have nothing gainst asiatic people, and actually asiatic doesn’t mean anything, since they are a lot of different countries/cultures in Asia.
I know how good they are at e-sport, and as I said they are as smart as NA/EU people (and as nice too, maybe more). But it has been said officialy that most of theses changes are designed for China market.

I don’t think it’s racism to say that people around the world have different cultures. Some people likes to eat insects, some people prefers to eat cats or dogs, some people prefer to eat cow or chicken, and personnaly, last week i ate frogs. Who is wrong, who is right ? No one, we have all ours ways, and it’s fine. But if someone start to put insects in my daily salad, I will not like, but I can understand some people will. If I want to eat the same salad everyday, I will have to learn a different cultures, and be used to it. Or I could eat another salad, it’s up to me. But I don’t think there is anything racist in my salad…

The major complaint of the new leveling system is the dumbing down aspect of it. And you mentioned in your post that this was done for the Asian based players. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion given taking these two ideas. If I didn’t correctly understand your original post, then my apologies.

CyClotroniC.4957:

I really feel bad for Anet right now, because it must have been a lot of work and I bet they truly wanted to improve it, but I just don’t get why is it good. So basically all the limitations should serve new players and help them to slowly experience every single part of the game, but I still see it as counterproductive.

Curiosity is a huge part of new player experience, and it just feels like that I’m walking into a restaurant and the waiter is telling me, that I cannot have a menu, until I taste the daily special. I mean if a new player is capable of using, learning, unterstanding new skill and aspects of the game, why hold him back? I’m pretty sure if someone is confused by the game (A) he will go with autoattacks by his own will until he is comfortable with using more (B) ask around in mapchat and experience the helpful community of the game and feel welcomed.

I had no problem at all with leveling up 2 years ago, since then I leveled up many alts, most of them with 100% world completion and I’m still waiting since april to level up an engi. Created one a couple of weeks ago, because I hoped you will redesign the trait-system, and now I will wait more. It’s just time consuming and I wouldn’t like to waste significantly more time on leveling an alt, because I want to play the Living Story (which is great by the way) or participate in the WvW season.

The best thing would be to go back to our roots with leveling, because it was perfectly fine. I’m not against changes, I loved most of the improvements you have done so far, but this particular think failed I’m afraid (although one thing I like, the built-in tutorials on starting maps, that was a good idea).

I just really want to understand your side of the story, because I get that you wanted to help new players, I just don’t get that why did you think dumbing/slowing down leveling is helpful. I even give you that you might be right, I just cannot see the benefits of it all.

In case you still believe in your new system, at least you can please the experienced players by allowing them to get traits in bulk (like the old way – you can even raise the price of trait books, I don’t care) and give them an opportunity to start from a higher level. For example I would happily mystic forge level-20 scrolls to upgrade them into level-40-60-80 ones.

All in all I feel bad for the new players, because they will reach the awesome parts of this game so much slower then we did, and I feel bad for Anet, because they must have worked a lot on this change and I know that I won’t level up my alt until it is fixed.

Pretty much this. I pre-ordered the game excited to be able to play. I ran over to everything I could find. Skill points? Neat! Vista’s? Awesome! I can gather things? Amazing!

What’s left for the player leveling now? To auto attack his way through multiple levels until he unlocks basic functions? And I say basic because downed state/TP/Underwater skills/Story/Vista’s/Skill points/Weapon and utility skills are all very integral parts of the game that I experienced immediately.

This patch has failed, there’s no other word for it.

layzoe.6035:

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

layzoe.6035:

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

The changes aren’t designed for young or old players. As it has been said, all of them can get their hands on much more difficult games, as long as they are in NA/EU. I don’t think it’s an age issue, but more a cultural issue. This game is not anymore for NA/EU players, it’s for Asiatics players. I have nothing against asiatic people, I’m sure they are as smart and nice people as NA/EU, but it seems they have different culture of MMO, and this game is now tagerted to them.
Maybe they should have shut down NA/EU servers, and they will probably do so sooner or later. For now we are lucky, the game is still available in English and 5 different European languages, but if you plan to continue playing this game maybe you should consider learning Chineese or Korean.

Before you make very inaccurate and ludicrous statements which borders on racism.. you should read this, “Why Gamers in Asia are the World’s Best E Sport Athletes” Taken from the article: Hardcore games, ubiquitous tech, and Asia’s economic rise helped the PC trounce consoles to become the dominant pro gaming platform.

Racism ? really ? As I said I have nothing gainst asiatic people, and actually asiatic doesn’t mean anything, since they are a lot of different countries/cultures in Asia.
I know how good they are at e-sport, and as I said they are as smart as NA/EU people (and as nice too, maybe more). But it has been said officialy that most of theses changes are designed for China market.

I don’t think it’s racism to say that people around the world have different cultures. Some people likes to eat insects, some people prefers to eat cats or dogs, some people prefer to eat cow or chicken, and personnaly, last week i ate frogs. Who is wrong, who is right ? No one, we have all ours ways, and it’s fine. But if someone start to put insects in my daily salad, I will not like, but I can understand some people will. If I want to eat the same salad everyday, I will have to learn a different cultures, and be used to it. Or I could eat another salad, it’s up to me. But I don’t think there is anything racist in my salad…

The major complaint of the new leveling system is the dumbing down aspect of it. And you mentioned in your post that this was done for the Asian based players. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion given taking these two ideas. If I didn’t correctly understand your original post, then my apologies.

Well English is not my primary language so I should probably apologize to not being very intelligible due to my poor english skills.
I think what we may percieve as “dumbing down” could be perceived differently in a different culture. The question is will NA/EU players accept to change their culture to adapt to this new version of gw2 ?

Vayne.8563:

I think as you get further on in the leveling process, you’ll see exactly why it’s good.

Seeing further on was the issue I had to begin with. I’m still hopeful that things will be worthwhile as I progress, but the interesting early challenges and nuances that made me instantly think that buying the game was a good idea was replaced by this

A better way might have been to introduced a trainer NPC in the starting cities, with options to either cut to a video explaining each gameplay feature or to send the player to an instance where they could practice it away from the main content flow. Veterans would continue to get the streamlined experience they had, and new people would have a resource to train them if they desired.

You can ask for a refund up to six months after purchasing.

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

layzoe.6035:

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

layzoe.6035:

Acinonyx Rex.8609:

The changes aren’t designed for young or old players. As it has been said, all of them can get their hands on much more difficult games, as long as they are in NA/EU. I don’t think it’s an age issue, but more a cultural issue. This game is not anymore for NA/EU players, it’s for Asiatics players. I have nothing against asiatic people, I’m sure they are as smart and nice people as NA/EU, but it seems they have different culture of MMO, and this game is now tagerted to them.
Maybe they should have shut down NA/EU servers, and they will probably do so sooner or later. For now we are lucky, the game is still available in English and 5 different European languages, but if you plan to continue playing this game maybe you should consider learning Chineese or Korean.

Before you make very inaccurate and ludicrous statements which borders on racism.. you should read this, “Why Gamers in Asia are the World’s Best E Sport Athletes” Taken from the article: Hardcore games, ubiquitous tech, and Asia’s economic rise helped the PC trounce consoles to become the dominant pro gaming platform.

Racism ? really ? As I said I have nothing gainst asiatic people, and actually asiatic doesn’t mean anything, since they are a lot of different countries/cultures in Asia.
I know how good they are at e-sport, and as I said they are as smart as NA/EU people (and as nice too, maybe more). But it has been said officialy that most of theses changes are designed for China market.

I don’t think it’s racism to say that people around the world have different cultures. Some people likes to eat insects, some people prefers to eat cats or dogs, some people prefer to eat cow or chicken, and personnaly, last week i ate frogs. Who is wrong, who is right ? No one, we have all ours ways, and it’s fine. But if someone start to put insects in my daily salad, I will not like, but I can understand some people will. If I want to eat the same salad everyday, I will have to learn a different cultures, and be used to it. Or I could eat another salad, it’s up to me. But I don’t think there is anything racist in my salad…

The major complaint of the new leveling system is the dumbing down aspect of it. And you mentioned in your post that this was done for the Asian based players. It’s not hard to come to the conclusion given taking these two ideas. If I didn’t correctly understand your original post, then my apologies.

Well English is not my primary language so I should probably apologize to not being very intelligible due to my poor english skills.
I think what we may percieve as “dumbing down” could be perceived differently in a different culture. The question is will NA/EU players accept to change their culture to adapt to this new version of gw2 ?

Oh your English is fine.. it was my misunderstanding Seems to be a problem already. Maybe if it was introduced from the start, it wouldn’t have been but seems retroactive now.

You’re not ‘new’, you’ve played for a month. This is created for people who buy the game tomorrow.
The only problem with this implementation is that it interferes with the leveling experience of the veterans (= everyone who got a taste of the old system). I guess, they’ll either let the two systems coexist or they’ll give us so many ‘free level options’ (tomes, scrolls, etc.) so that leveling becomes obsolete. They’ll probably do the latter, which is the easier one.

Whether the system works for new players remains to be seen. The data/metrics is the only way they’ll be able to gauge the succes as a new player often won’t go to the forums/reddit to criticize, he’ll just quit.

Theundersigned.4761:

What makes you think that the increased grind is a cash shop move? It’s pretty annoying, sure, but I don’t see how the extra time spent leveling serves to benefit ArenaNet at all.

When Anet starts sticking scrolls of jumping to level 30 or 40 for vet players or players that just want to get those skills and utilities unlocked sooner, because those scroll WILL be coming. Anet already has a history of doing stuff like this.

An opinion of a lowbie friend of mine http://s4.postimg.org/w5s5znyr1/screenshot_2014_09_10.png

Lunar Sunset.8742:

You can ask for a refund up to six months after purchasing.

+1. I still have almost 5 before then, so as long as I don’t space out and forget, I’ll have time to see how they respond to the feedback, if any, and decide before then. Much appreciated!