Guild Wars 2

Chuo.4238:

Well, this has been a spectacular 1st Anniversary for Guild Wars 2

lol, it certainly isn’t passing by quietly, that’s for sure.

Just want to join in and also express great sadness regarding the 1 year Birthday present.

Getting free stuff is nice but it seem pretty worthless to 1 year old accounts.

Would, like many others, like minies to be something tradeable like they were in GW1.

At first I was all “Why did only 2 of my characters get a gift?” and then I re-read the message that comes with it congratulating me on my account reaching one year. I think it was a bug that people got it on different characters when only one should have arrived. If that is the case I am happy with the present: getting one scroll to encourage just one more char would seem like a normal kind of thing to do to nudge people who have only been playing their main to branch out more, an account bound mini only available as a bday gift to fill that slot, and the time limited booster is like the golem that came with the collectors edition (nice but gone quickly, so not surprising. I do wish that lasted a week at least. hehehe). If we were only meant to get the mini once that would be why it isn’t forgeable – don’t waste the only one you will ever get!

Arenanet seems to have placed major value on minis. When you complete all achievements in a LS, most of the time you get a mini. You get Minis from drops. You get minis from the gem store.

I could care less about mini. They do nothing to add value to your character. For the progression nuts out there, they do nothing to add progression. They dont make my character look any more ‘cooler’ or unique.

If they gave the 1 yr people a choice of a few skins that only 1 yr folks can get…thatd be a good start. Giving us some gems would be a good start.

I dont care about minis. Boost is OK. But..yah, after the huge amount of hype this game has had.. the ‘success’ it has had, the ‘oath breaking’ and fortitude of the playerbase to stick with the game after many feel it has abandoned core principles..after a year of crappy content updates..this really is a joke.

Free stuff is free stuff, but for one year of a major game like GW2, a game where the devs apparently “care” about the game…they rewarded us with nada.

phokus.8934:

People complaining about free items that ANet decided to do when they didn’t have to!? Say it ain’t so…

You people are ridiculous.

If you gave someone one year a Ferrari, and the next year $5 McDonald’s coupon, wouldn’t you think they’d be a little awkward due to the drop on quality? Same principal.

phokus.8934:

People complaining about free items that ANet decided to do when they didn’t have to!? Say it ain’t so…

You people are ridiculous.

Exactly my thoughts. They dont have to give us ANYTHING! Just because they did so in GW1, doesnt mean it has to be the same for GW2 since its a whole different game, reasons why some things from part 1 didnt make it to part 2. Accept your gifts, along with all the other easy items gained from living story and keep playing.

Himei.5379:

phokus.8934:

People complaining about free items that ANet decided to do when they didn’t have to!? Say it ain’t so…

You people are ridiculous.

Exactly my thoughts. They dont have to give us ANYTHING! Just because they did so in GW1, doesnt mean it has to be the same for GW2 since its a whole different game, reasons why some things from part 1 didnt make it to part 2. Accept your gifts, along with all the other easy items gained from living story and keep playing.

And we don’t have to give them money either. Bottom line is that there are expectations and some of them set by Anet themselves. You can’t just say then that people just should accept everything someone throws at you.

Every time a company gives you something for free, I don’t care how big the letters are to showcase it as FREE, it’s part of an experience that you have paid for. That doesn’t have the same feeling to me.

The fact that this topic exploded here just shows how important these little things are. Now, you may be right in saying that little things shouldn’t matter that much, but perhaps there is more than entitlement going on here. Perhaps people are focusing on each little thing because they already are dissatisfied customers to some degree.

Just like stress, small things get you over that edge, if you already have a stress level close to but just under that edge. The same goes for dissatisfaction I’d say.

There may be a lot of people who already have a number of question marks about this game and then this small thing is just the thing that tips them over the edge.

Honestly, it’s a realistic possibility.

Gehenna.3625:

Himei.5379:

phokus.8934:

People complaining about free items that ANet decided to do when they didn’t have to!? Say it ain’t so…

You people are ridiculous.

Exactly my thoughts. They dont have to give us ANYTHING! Just because they did so in GW1, doesnt mean it has to be the same for GW2 since its a whole different game, reasons why some things from part 1 didnt make it to part 2. Accept your gifts, along with all the other easy items gained from living story and keep playing.

And we don’t have to give them money either. Bottom line is that there are expectations and some of them set by Anet themselves. You can’t just say then that people just should accept everything someone throws at you.

Every time a company gives you something for free, I don’t care how big the letters are to showcase it as FREE, it’s part of an experience that you have paid for. That doesn’t have the same feeling to me.

The fact that this topic exploded here just shows how important these little things are. Now, you may be right in saying that little things shouldn’t matter that much, but perhaps there is more than entitlement going on here. Perhaps people are focusing on each little thing because they already are dissatisfied customers to some degree.

Just like stress, small things get you over that edge, if you already have a stress level close to but just under that edge. The same goes for dissatisfaction I’d say.

There may be a lot of people who already have a number of question marks about this game and then this small thing is just the thing that tips them over the edge.

Honestly, it’s a realistic possibility.

Well put. Probably worth investigating if you’re a conscientious ArenaNet.

I mean, if you’ve got something commonly referred to, worldwide, as the Mystic Toilet…you might be doing something wrong…

If you’ve reached the point where no matter what you do, people will take shots at you, and furthermore, it’s expected and predicted, you might be doing something wrong…

If it’s expected that anything you release is going to be poorly thought out and at least partially broken…you might be doing something wrong…

People I know who used to love ArenaNet and Guild Wars now roll their eyes and guffaw when the subject of GW2 comes up…

Gehenna.3625:

MrRuin.9740:

Gehenna.3625:

Maybe they shouldn’t have loot in games at all, because characters are not real. In fact why make games at all….none of it’s real.

Real nice. Because playing a game for fun is the same as people treating a virtual birthday as a real birthday and wanting to feel “special” from a faceless gaming company. It’s not real, ANet does not know who you are, will not tailor a present to your liking. The birthday system is an automated system that sends out little trinket gifts on a virtual birthday. That’s it.

First of all, you don’t get to decide for other people what’s fun to them. A lot of GW1 players had fun collecting and trading mini’s. It worked just fine. It’s beyond me why they didn’t use the same good idea and had to do something else that isn’t as good.

Secondly, Anet started this tradition themselves in the first GW1. I am pretty sure there would be an even bigger kittenstorm if they hadn’t done anyhting as you suggest.

Lastly, people do care about their characters especially when they spend a lot of time on them. If you don’t get that, that’s ok, but just realise characters do mean something to a lot of people as we can see. Ignoring that doesn’t make your comment any less ridiculous.

You’re not wrong. This seems a pretty strange choice for Anet to have made. I’m not quite sure what’s behind it.

Vayne.8563:

You’re not wrong. This seems a pretty strange choice for Anet to have made. I’m not quite sure what’s behind it.

It’s a bit of a mystery alright. I am trying to think of what made them decide on what they did and I just can’t make any logical sense out of it. Just out of curiosity I would’ve liked to’ve been able to peek in their meeting room when they were deciding this. It just seems odd.

It’s no mystery.

The cash shop is the only way to get Minipets and they want to keep it that way.

Bassi.3627:

It’s no mystery.

The cash shop is the only way to get Minipets and they want to keep it that way.

Well it is to me, because they could still do the cash shop thing without kitten ing off a lot of people.

Gehenna.3625:

Himei.5379:

phokus.8934:

People complaining about free items that ANet decided to do when they didn’t have to!? Say it ain’t so…

You people are ridiculous.

Exactly my thoughts. They dont have to give us ANYTHING! Just because they did so in GW1, doesnt mean it has to be the same for GW2 since its a whole different game, reasons why some things from part 1 didnt make it to part 2. Accept your gifts, along with all the other easy items gained from living story and keep playing.

And we don’t have to give them money either. Bottom line is that there are expectations and some of them set by Anet themselves. You can’t just say then that people just should accept everything someone throws at you.

Every time a company gives you something for free, I don’t care how big the letters are to showcase it as FREE, it’s part of an experience that you have paid for. That doesn’t have the same feeling to me.

The fact that this topic exploded here just shows how important these little things are. Now, you may be right in saying that little things shouldn’t matter that much, but perhaps there is more than entitlement going on here. Perhaps people are focusing on each little thing because they already are dissatisfied customers to some degree.

Just like stress, small things get you over that edge, if you already have a stress level close to but just under that edge. The same goes for dissatisfaction I’d say.

There may be a lot of people who already have a number of question marks about this game and then this small thing is just the thing that tips them over the edge.

Honestly, it’s a realistic possibility.

That this is where the gamer’s mentality is headed, into a “privileged” mindset. Just look at the negative response on the Heroic Edition. Complaining about the “free” stuff and how they should have brought it now. It’s like they never brought a game before, if they ever did, price drops are a common thing and “Game of the Year” editions nowadays. Does the Heroic edition come with your hard earn Shatterer wings, Karka shell backpiece, etc? No, because anyone buying it now would miss out on those exclusive skins.

And yes, we don’t have to give them money, I am sure over 50% of these complaining players haven’t brought a single gem card yet they complain over everything not given to them. What I really appreciate was ANET giving the GEM card buyers (people who actually supported the company after initial purchase of game) thank you gifts. To me, its those “little” things that matter to me. Does it suck for the players who can’t afford to buy gems? Yes, which is why they give free stuff time to time for all, such as WXP boosters I got recently, Polla doll (crappy, lol), along with other stuff I can’t remember.

Also got to understand the reason for living stories, to extend the end game for many while handing out items to earn that many new players will miss out on.

C’mon ANET, we know that you’re watching the forums, post something, explain the reason about the decision to make the birthday presents that way.. or you will just wait till 28th for the real kittenstorm that is going to come to the forums when all the people get their presents…

EpicHedgehog.1754:

C’mon ANET, we know that you’re watching the forums, post something, explain the reason about the decision to make the birthday presents that way.. or you will just wait till 28th for the real kittenstorm that is going to come to the forums about all the people get their presents…

What is there to explain? They decided they’d rather sell us mini-pets than give them to us. It really is that simple.

Gehenna.3625:

First of all, you don’t get to decide for other people what’s fun to them. A lot of GW1 players had fun collecting and trading mini’s. It worked just fine. It’s beyond me why they didn’t use the same good idea and had to do something else that isn’t as good.

Secondly, Anet started this tradition themselves in the first GW1. I am pretty sure there would be an even bigger kittenstorm if they hadn’t done anyhting as you suggest.

Lastly, people do care about their characters especially when they spend a lot of time on them. If you don’t get that, that’s ok, but just realise characters do mean something to a lot of people as we can see. Ignoring that doesn’t make your comment any less ridiculous.

Your ‘first of all’ is contradictory. You enjoyed GW1 and want this game to be like GW1. This is what you want and want others to want what you do. Its your opinon it isnt as good. Its your opinion that they should have done the same thing. So that means everyone should want that?
Secondly, doing something in one game doesnt mean its a tradition. It doesnt mean anything except its a mechanic of that one game. Especially when its been pointed out incessantly on these forums for the last year that GW2 is NOT GW1. They have done little to carry over things from GW1 or make GW2 seem like GW1 for the people who have wanted that. Why would anyone ever expect this to be different?
Lastly, yes I do understand putting a lot of time into a character and caring about the time put into it. Still doesnt make it real. People seem to be putting the same kind of relevance on a virtual avatar as they would a real person. Like Anet should know each person and what they would want. Or that they should pull some magical amazing present that would overjoy the entire playerbase. An avatars ‘birthday’ is a celebration of a user clicking a few buttons a year ago. Its a gimmicky thing they do to add to the game and people are taking it far too seriously.

This happens in many MMOs that have a similar system. Company does some gimmick thing that mimics real life and the playerbase swells up in greed and complaints. Its not just here, but it still just as ridiculous to see.

Himei.5379:

Gehenna.3625:

Himei.5379:

phokus.8934:

People complaining about free items that ANet decided to do when they didn’t have to!? Say it ain’t so…

You people are ridiculous.

Exactly my thoughts. They dont have to give us ANYTHING! Just because they did so in GW1, doesnt mean it has to be the same for GW2 since its a whole different game, reasons why some things from part 1 didnt make it to part 2. Accept your gifts, along with all the other easy items gained from living story and keep playing.

And we don’t have to give them money either. Bottom line is that there are expectations and some of them set by Anet themselves. You can’t just say then that people just should accept everything someone throws at you.

Every time a company gives you something for free, I don’t care how big the letters are to showcase it as FREE, it’s part of an experience that you have paid for. That doesn’t have the same feeling to me.

The fact that this topic exploded here just shows how important these little things are. Now, you may be right in saying that little things shouldn’t matter that much, but perhaps there is more than entitlement going on here. Perhaps people are focusing on each little thing because they already are dissatisfied customers to some degree.

Just like stress, small things get you over that edge, if you already have a stress level close to but just under that edge. The same goes for dissatisfaction I’d say.

There may be a lot of people who already have a number of question marks about this game and then this small thing is just the thing that tips them over the edge.

Honestly, it’s a realistic possibility.

That this is where the gamer’s mentality is headed, into a “privileged” mindset. Just look at the negative response on the Heroic Edition. Complaining about the “free” stuff and how they should have brought it now. It’s like they never brought a game before, if they ever did, price drops are a common thing and “Game of the Year” editions nowadays. Does the Heroic edition come with your hard earn Shatterer wings, Karka shell backpiece, etc? No, because anyone buying it now would miss out on those exclusive skins.

And yes, we don’t have to give them money, I am sure over 50% of these complaining players haven’t brought a single gem card yet they complain over everything not given to them. What I really appreciate was ANET giving the GEM card buyers (people who actually supported the company after initial purchase of game) thank you gifts. To me, its those “little” things that matter to me. Does it suck for the players who can’t afford to buy gems? Yes, which is why they give free stuff time to time for all, such as WXP boosters I got recently, Polla doll (crappy, lol), along with other stuff I can’t remember.

Also got to understand the reason for living stories, to extend the end game for many while handing out items to earn that many new players will miss out on.

I agree with you to an extent yea people are rathing inconsiderate with the heroic edition its designed towards people who are completely new to the game if you preordered the freakin game you knew about it and you knew that gw1 rewards carried over into gw2 IE most of the stuff they gave away with heroic and they didnt give it all nor even re useable items all consumable where as those of us that linked our gw1 account have it forever and ever so its no big deal to me plus I wouldnt have my Twilight now either. on the other hand with the bday I think they should have given us like 2 tickets of our choice for weapons skins excluding legendaries and I think many of us would be happy with that account bound rather than a wortless scroll and mini. No offense anet I love your product but this was very little incentive for us gw1 vets that play or played gw2 to come back or stay I am actually scared to keep my characters now for year 2. next year guys we will get another booster and account bound portal consumable!!!!! Thanks for free things(but please work on something to actually keep us consider the weapon skin selection thing honestly) and thumbs up if u trashed jennah I hate being around her in the game itself I dont want her following me…..

darkace.8925:

EpicHedgehog.1754:

C’mon ANET, we know that you’re watching the forums, post something, explain the reason about the decision to make the birthday presents that way.. or you will just wait till 28th for the real kittenstorm that is going to come to the forums about all the people get their presents…

What is there to explain? They decided they’d rather sell us mini-pets than give them to us. It really is that simple.

Well, i don’t really care about the minipets (i have my raccoon and i dont want and need more), i want to know why do they decide to give us only “up to level 20” scrolls, and not +20 levels ones… these scrolls now are useless for maybe 60-70% of the people who has 1 y o chars. If they were +20 levels regardless
the current level i (and im sure many more who has more than 3-4 of these) was going to make a new char, to try a new professions and i was going to be happy hedgehog. but now i will have to go the same boring leveling process, that ive done 4 times again to try a new profession akittens full capacity

darkace.8925:

EpicHedgehog.1754:

C’mon ANET, we know that you’re watching the forums, post something, explain the reason about the decision to make the birthday presents that way.. or you will just wait till 28th for the real kittenstorm that is going to come to the forums about all the people get their presents…

What is there to explain? They decided they’d rather sell us mini-pets than give them to us. It really is that simple.

Because they’ve provided no in game minipets for free at all? This makes no sense. They wouldn’t have had to give up minipets from the sets they’re selling, for which there is an achievement.

I mean I keep getting minis in game for free. So it probably isn’t this.

Vayne.8563:

Because they’ve provided no in game minipets for free at all? This makes no sense. They wouldn’t have had to give up minipets from the sets they’re selling, for which there is an achievement.

I mean I keep getting minis in game for free. So it probably isn’t this.

How does it not make sense? They just added 46 new mini-pets to the Gem Shop. They could have reserved a dozen or so of these to be given randomly as birthday gifts. But they didn’t. The fact that we’ve been able to earn a few (which is obviously not the same as being given a few) through in-game achievements doesn’t change the fact that they could have but didn’t use a portion of the 46 new mini-pets just added to the game as birthday gifts.

Disappointed. I have alts that are mid leveling but above level 20 so useless to me. Why not just make them 20 levels for any character. At least anyone above 80 can get 20 skill points from these things.

Come on anet!

Swarfega.6097:

Disappointed. I have alts that are mid leveling but above level 20 so useless to me. Why not just make them 20 levels for any character. At least anyone above 80 can get 20 skill points from these things.

Come on anet!

20 skill points is worthless all skills and my legendary already as many others those that don’t. Have the gear already and may be working on legendary ie 202 sp for world completion not counting all the times you level up during.

You can easily split the community into 2 parts: the ones who accept everything with a big greedy smile because ’IT’S FREE GYZ LUL’, and the ones who played GW1 and has common sense and got used to quality.

Sink more real cash in and make Anet’s greedy coffer full.This is how they reward us back instead.If you let them know you like it, we will be having this kind of rewards forever.

1. Not many people care about minis
2. The scroll is useless for almost everyone
3. The booster is nice but temporary, that’s like getting nothing but a cake for your birthday, once it’s gone… you realize how lame a birthday is without any presents.

darkace.8925:

Vayne.8563:

Because they’ve provided no in game minipets for free at all? This makes no sense. They wouldn’t have had to give up minipets from the sets they’re selling, for which there is an achievement.

I mean I keep getting minis in game for free. So it probably isn’t this.

How does it not make sense? They just added 46 new mini-pets to the Gem Shop. They could have reserved a dozen or so of these to be given randomly as birthday gifts. But they didn’t. The fact that we’ve been able to earn a few (which is obviously not the same as being given a few) through in-game achievements doesn’t change the fact that they could have but didn’t use a portion of the 46 new mini-pets just added to the game as birthday gifts.

By the same token, they could have made a dozen from other creatures in the game having nothing to do with what’s put in the gem store.

How many minis ended up getting given away at say Southsun Island during the event there. I got three minis from that one event.

You’re connecting two things and I don’t see how you can connect them.

There are threads were people are complaining about getting minipet rewards for content, and you’re saying Anet doesn’t want to give them away for free, because there are already minipets in the shop.

But they have been giving them away for free. What people buy them for is the achievement. The special minis don’t count toward the achievement.

Do you think it’s so hard for Anet to make a mini from an existing model? They could have easily made 10 random ones that didn’t count toward a title.

I suspect their reasoning was that they didn’t want to give people the impression they were trying to make people buy character slots just to get the minis. You think people wouldn’t accuse them of that?

Gandarel.5091:

You can easily split the community into 2 parts: the ones who accept everything with a big greedy smile because ’IT’S FREE GYZ LUL’, and the ones who played GW1 and has common sense and got used to quality.

This might be the most untrue post ever. There are only two types of people…those who classify people into two types…and those who don’t.

I’m not greedy and I don’t really care very much what I get for free. But quality is very much a matter of opinion. You think Guild Wars 1 had better quality birthday gifts, because they randomized some minis. You’re calling this quality? It’s a design decision. What you consider quality depends on how you feel about minis. For a lot of people it was a greed thing. They wanted the chance to get something really really valuable so they could sell it. That’s more a greedy smile thing to me than this. Many of these people are mad because they can’t sell their minis. So much for the greedy smile theory.

Quality can be judged in a lot of different ways. Guild Wars 1 was a very different game than Guild Wars 2 is…I’m not sure it was a higher quality game.

But either way, the choice of birthday gifts has nothing to do with quality.

The Experience scroll only being useable by those under level 20 is awful. GW1 was a rallying call against grinding. GW2 embraces the grind.

+20 levels could be great for everyone.

Faranox.4217:

The Experience scroll only being useable by those under level 20 is awful. GW1 was a rallying call against grinding. GW2 embraces the grind.

+20 levels could be great for everyone.

I can understand why they didn’t make it a flat +20 levels. I’d rather not be running dungeons/Fractals/whatever with people who double-clicked their way to level 80 and have no understanding how to actually play their class (I know they can already do this through crafting, but that’s beside the point). Perhaps it would have been better to bump those <20 to level 20 and give everyone else skill points?

Who the hell even cares about mini ? Especially a miniature NPC…Minis used to be like small pets in GW1. It could be considered cute.
Then they took it to creepy levels by releasing NPCs as “pets”…I don’t know, it just creeps me out.

MrRuin.9740:

Your ‘first of all’ is contradictory. You enjoyed GW1 and want this game to be like GW1. This is what you want and want others to want what you do. Its your opinon it isnt as good. Its your opinion that they should have done the same thing. So that means everyone should want that?

It’s not contradictory. You may disagree with my view but it’s not a contradiction. What I am saying is that they had something that worked in GW1 and they did something different here that gets a lot of negativity. Doesn’t sound like a smart move. If it ain’t broke why fix it? That’s all I’m saying. And let’s be honest, Anet is starting to bring out gear based in GW1 gear (Zodiac anyone). So it’s not so strange to think they might have done this in a similar way.

MrRuin.9740:

Secondly, doing something in one game doesnt mean its a tradition. It doesnt mean anything except its a mechanic of that one game. Especially when its been pointed out incessantly on these forums for the last year that GW2 is NOT GW1. They have done little to carry over things from GW1 or make GW2 seem like GW1 for the people who have wanted that. Why would anyone ever expect this to be different?

I know it’s now GW1, but it’s the same company making one mistake after another, while they did it better in their previous game. Seems silly to upset people by doing something that clearly isn’t as cool as what they did in GW1. They couldve done something entirely different than this for all I care. But they gave a mini, like in GW1 but didn’t make them collectible. Why bring something in they clearly did in GW1 but make a lesser version of it? That just boggles the mind.

MrRuin.9740:

Lastly, yes I do understand putting a lot of time into a character and caring about the time put into it. Still doesnt make it real. People seem to be putting the same kind of relevance on a virtual avatar as they would a real person. Like Anet should know each person and what they would want. Or that they should pull some magical amazing present that would overjoy the entire playerbase. An avatars ‘birthday’ is a celebration of a user clicking a few buttons a year ago. Its a gimmicky thing they do to add to the game and people are taking it far too seriously.

This happens in many MMOs that have a similar system. Company does some gimmick thing that mimics real life and the playerbase swells up in greed and complaints. Its not just here, but it still just as ridiculous to see.

Perception is reality. People invest in a lot of things that aren’t real in a physical sense. However, what you fail to see, is that the emotions people have and the connections to game characters, or books or movies or anything like that are real.

If people spend 30+ hours a week on something, surely you should be able to grasp the inevitable attachment people can have to what they do. The game isn’t real but their playing it and being involved in it is real emotion.

If you don’t feel that at all, that’s fine. But to basically ridicule it because you don’t look at it the same way is rather, well, ignorant really.

Funny thing, the Queen Jennah mini. I left it in my inventory since it said double click it to activate. First time I zoned, it vanished from the inventory. Not that I’m going to miss it, but even so…

I find the birthday quite underwhelming. I have 8 characters, all made on the first day of the 3-day headstart. Only one of them is <20 levels. With 8 identical non-tradable minipets, and 7 of 8 experience boosters I cannot use, this leaves only the ‘boost’ as a real bonus. So, 10 out of 24 items are usable. I would be at least content if the experience scrolls were bonus levels, rather than limited to <20 characters. As it is, just more bank/character storage space wasted, unless I elect to just junk the extra items. I am unlikely to make more characters (and thus by more character slots) unless more races/classes are added.

Heck, even if more race/professions are added, I value the leveling from 1 to 20 to let me see the stories, zones, and learn the skills. I did use my AP chest scroll on a character, because she was made for RP and I already had an 80 Mesmer so I knew how the profession worked. I just needed to get her up to using more clothes and able to get to more places Now she’s 76 because mesmers are just that fun.

But for a truly new character, I would not want to skip the starting levels. Maybe later I’d want the boost once I knew how things worked.

So yeah. Nice to get a gift. A bit perplexed as to this particular gift set given the target givees.

So entitled we all are, i hope they don’t give us anything next year.
Spoiled kids.

Himei.5379:

snip

And yes, we don’t have to give them money, I am sure over 50% of these complaining players haven’t brought a single gem card yet they complain over everything not given to them. What I really appreciate was ANET giving the GEM card buyers (people who actually supported the company after initial purchase of game) thank you gifts. To me, its those “little” things that matter to me. Does it suck for the players who can’t afford to buy gems? Yes, which is why they give free stuff time to time for all, such as WXP boosters I got recently, Polla doll (crappy, lol), along with other stuff I can’t remember.
snip

Please do not speak for others.

I, for one, have spent hundreds of real life dollars in addition to the game’s starting price to support the game through the gem shop. I bought gem cards and gems directly through the TP in-game. I don’t regret it one bit.

I love GW2 and I want to see ArenaNet succeed in satisfying their fans and playerbase, because that is what’s best for everyone.

I do not feel entitled to anything, except for the gaming company I have paid my money to, to make me happy by me enjoying the game. If I stop being happy, I stop paying. Simple enough, right?

It made me feel very happy, surprised and appreciated when I got the items from ArenaNet thanking me for my gem purchases. I still use the kite and love it too.

All of the above is why I was unpleasantly surprised by the birthday gifts.
Maybe my expectations were too high, coming from GW1.
But even if that is the case, I still don’t understand the reasoning behind the “up to lvl20” experience scroll (instead of “plus 20 levels” for instance), the multiple mini Jennahs, and the booster that would put a lot of stress on me since it’s only active for 1 day, making me feel like I can do nothing else but feverishly level that character until the booster expires.

Oh, and in regards to what Koreena said. I don’t know if all characters getting a present was intentional or not, but the Queen Jennah mini being non-mystic-toiletable is not the only mini in the game. For an example, there’s the Priest of Balthazar, obtainable from the Orrian Boxes.

darkace.8925:

Faranox.4217:

The Experience scroll only being useable by those under level 20 is awful. GW1 was a rallying call against grinding. GW2 embraces the grind.

+20 levels could be great for everyone.

I can understand why they didn’t make it a flat +20 levels. I’d rather not be running dungeons/Fractals/whatever with people who double-clicked their way to level 80 and have no understanding how to actually play their class (I know they can already do this through crafting, but that’s beside the point). Perhaps it would have been better to bump those <20 to level 20 and give everyone else skill points?

That makes no sense, you get one of these at the year mark and one ever 4000 AP. I think it’s safe to say that anybody who reaches those two goals already knows how to play.

Conncept.7638:

That makes no sense, you get one of these at the year mark and one ever 4000 AP. I think it’s safe to say that anybody who reaches those two goals already knows how to play.

Knowing how to play the game and knowing how to play your character (profession, build, etc) well enough to not be a detriment to a party running a dungeon or Fractal are not the same thing. I’m not saying it would happen often. I’m not even saying it doesn’t happen already. I’m just saying I can see that being a reason why they didn’t let someone double click four scrolls to get from level 1 to level 80 in 1.5 seconds.

Once upon a time an Eskimo received a fridge as gift.

Milennin.4825:

1. The Miniature Queen Jennah is nice, but it’ll be sent to my bank to collect dust there the first time I’ll press Deposit All Collectables. I’d love to see a Miniature equipment slot so I can actually make use of these guys. Other than that, no complaints from me.

It’s called an invisible bag. Put your mini in there and it will never be sent to the bank unless you do it on purpose.

Mini Jennah, nice! But why would I need 16 of them? Even somebody who didn’t buy an extra slot will have at least 5. Wait. 5. That’s 1 to keep and 4 to put in the MF! Wait. We can’t MF it…

Booster. I like that one. It’s your birthday, so for one day you’re the birthday boy/girl and get all kinds of boosts.

Scroll. Really? I’ll end up with 16 scrolls which I’ll never be able to use… That one reminded me of getting a toddler’s book while you’ve already finished university.

Chances are the folks who could double click to 80 already understand the game fine since to actually do that from 1 they would need 4 one year old chars
I agree the flat +20 might be a bit much but even a flat +10 would be better in my opinion.

Faranox.4217:

Faranox.4217:

The Experience scroll only being useable by those under level 20 is awful. GW1 was a rallying call against grinding. GW2 embraces the grind.

+20 levels could be great for everyone.

I can understand why they didn’t make it a flat +20 levels. I’d rather not be running dungeons/Fractals/whatever with people who double-clicked their way to level 80 and have no understanding how to actually play their class (I know they can already do this through crafting, but that’s beside the point). Perhaps it would have been better to bump those <20 to level 20 and give everyone else skill points?

Anet policy with their customers… the power to sell you anything

I’d have preferred a +20 skill point scroll. Or a +15 skill point scroll (as that’s what the experience scroll does give in the end, considering you’ll only start getting SP when you’re lvl5)

It would be easy to give people the RNG element they wanted: make the Jenna Mini mystic forge-able.

They actually deleted the last thread about this. No explanation, just moved it to “Trashcan”. I find it odd that this one is red-underline upvoted (I don’t think that means a post is popular, I think it means an actual employee anonymously upvoted the post).

In other words: I believe this is an issue that Anet itself is torn over. Their Marketing / Business people who’ve had all the sway all year long want to ensure that no one gets a roll at the minis that typically require a cash shop purchase b/c then the people who payed real money for those would be put off by it and less likely to pay more money in the future. And the oldschool designers meanwhile were probably just as enamored with the Gw1 system as the rest of us, probably more so.

.

Me… personally?? I just wanted some godkittened CUPCAKES

andeysmandey.1647:

So entitled we all are, i hope they don’t give us anything next year.
Spoiled kids.

I actually said this before the last thread was deleted, that I would have preferred to NOT GET ANYTHING AT ALL, over this slap in the face that we got. But I do take issue with you using Spoiled in a Negative connotation. Gw1 spoiled us in a wonderful way…. a logical way. And I’ll not sit idley by as you attempt to besmirch that. You are either a troll, or a total disgrace to this community if you think you can scapegoat such poor judgement by attacking the very game that made this sequel possible.

Titan.3472:

Once upon a time an Eskimo received a fridge as gift.

Which is quite useful to him because it actually keeps his normal food from being frozen….

I’m sorry but I have to disagree with most of you. I think it was a great first year anniversary gift.

It was poorly thought out, full of stuff nobody wanted, and probably angered more people than it delighted like a vast majority of the updates they’ve put in the game this year.

It’s kitten perfect.

Peetee.9406:

It was poorly thought out, full of stuff nobody wanted, and probably angered more people than it delighted like a vast majority of the updates they’ve put in the game this year.

It’s kitten perfect.

Yeah I could see this perspective too… I don’t think they would have made a WvW Matchups forum if they were totally against Fights, Drama, Emo, Rants, and Disappointment in general as a form of entertainment / timefilling.

Gehenna.3625:

It’s not contradictory. You may disagree with my view but it’s not a contradiction. What I am saying is that they had something that worked in GW1 and they did something different here that gets a lot of negativity. Doesn’t sound like a smart move. If it ain’t broke why fix it? That’s all I’m saying. And let’s be honest, Anet is starting to bring out gear based in GW1 gear (Zodiac anyone). So it’s not so strange to think they might have done this in a similar way.

It is when you want it one way and others don’t and then say those people are wrong for wanting their way and not yours.

Gehenna.3625:

I know it’s now GW1, but it’s the same company making one mistake after another, while they did it better in their previous game. Seems silly to upset people by doing something that clearly isn’t as cool as what they did in GW1. They couldve done something entirely different than this for all I care. But they gave a mini, like in GW1 but didn’t make them collectible. Why bring something in they clearly did in GW1 but make a lesser version of it? That just boggles the mind.

Because its not GW1? Because it’s likely different people involved? Because no matter what they did people would moan and go on about it?

Gehenna.3625:

Perception is reality. People invest in a lot of things that aren’t real in a physical sense. However, what you fail to see, is that the emotions people have and the connections to game characters, or books or movies or anything like that are real.

If people spend 30+ hours a week on something, surely you should be able to grasp the inevitable attachment people can have to what they do. The game isn’t real but their playing it and being involved in it is real emotion.

If you don’t feel that at all, that’s fine. But to basically ridicule it because you don’t look at it the same way is rather, well, ignorant really.

Whats ignorant is expecting tailored free gifts from a faceless company that doesnt even know who you are, or even one thats going to even please the majority of the population. Had they done the same thing as GW1, altaholics would be claimed to be having an unfair ‘advantage’ due to receiving so many more RNG minis. I would bet anything the forums would be full of people raging about this. How they got slapped in the face for having fewer characters. It’s lose/lose for Anet any way they go when all it is, is a gesture.
Its ignorant to claim the gimmick gesture they do make is a ‘slap in the face’ or ‘crap’ or ‘garbage’ and go on about it like people are. If someone gave you a birthday card you didnt like, do you throw back in their face, call them names and demand something better? No, you graciously accept they did anything at all. And thats real life. A virtual life is not even close to being as serious as that.
Do you write any other software developer and demand a gift because you’ve been playing their games? Should I write Nintendo and demand a present on the Anniversary I bought their SNES? Should I write any other software developer that has online service other than MMO and demand a ‘present’ for the time invested playing and honing skills? No….because MMO’s have a unique sense of self-entitlement in their playerbases.

I’m going to delete EVERY Queen Jennah mini that my characters receive! I feel very insulted by ArenaNet.