Guild Wars 2

The events are too much too fast, I agree. My “solution” has been to ignore the events for the most part. I hate not being able to get the new shinies and achievements but that is better than entering the rat race. The downside to ignoring the events for the most part is that there are so few people in the world to do the normal PvE events. So I end up trying to do them alone which sometimes works but usually doesn’t.

I agree that the pace is too fast. I usually like the new release to cook for a week, let other poeple make mistakes, bugs be fixed and such. Before that left me with 3 weeks to complete, usualy spend 2 and then chillax for 1 week anticipating the new release. Now that leaves me 1 week and it’s starting to get stressing. And to relieve that stress I don’t play much any longer, falling behind even more. They’ve tried 4 weeks and 2 weeks now. They could try 3 weeks as a compromise?

Bumping this because I agree.

We could easily have gotten 2 more weeks of SAB alone. At least two more weeks.

One of the biggest complaints we’ve always heard about MMOs since their dawn is that they are just too time consuming. Eventually we quit them altogether because we want to play other games and do other things.

GW2 has no monthly fees. We don’t need to play it all the time, and in fact we would welcome a break to do other things sometimes.

The pace of updates is starting to make this game a chore instead of something enjoyable. Plus I suspect at least 50% of the people that actively play this may be missing on most of it.

I always do my best to get 100% and usually get most of the achieves, but its not as interesting now. When a new update comes, I never feel excited, I immediately feel “already?”

I skipped the whole SAB thing. Didn’t go inside even once and it was great. It was like taking a vacation and now I’m ready to go back to work with this new patch.

Seriously, they need to have time between these events where nothing happens. Let people decompress, do dungeons, level alts, stand around in LA, whatever. It’s one thing to visit a carnival. It’s another to live in one

Astral Projections.7320:

I skipped the whole SAB thing. Didn’t go inside even once and it was great. It was like taking a vacation and now I’m ready to go back to work with this new patch.

Seriously, they need to have time between these events where nothing happens. Let people decompress, do dungeons, level alts, stand around in LA, whatever. It’s one thing to visit a carnival. It’s another to live in one

I skipped it as well, although for other reasons. And, I haven’t missed it. Those end-of-summer ones were just too much.

Here’s the thing, though: If they announced a “summer fling” where they did the election and Scarlett stuff, and said that it wasn’t a new paradigm, but rather a one time sequence at a blistering pace, I would have loved it. There’s a challenge to being on a clock.

It’s when you are ALWAYS on the clock that it gets mundane.

Just as I feared when I first heard them announce their plan to do content updates “every two weeks”, it has (at least to me, and seemingly others judging by this topic) resulted in a series of small temporary content updates that’s occuring way too often, way too fast. I’ll just quote myself from back in July:

Absconditus.6804

I also really hate the fact that they are saying they’ll pump out these Living Story updates every two weeks, since to me it feels like that’ll just make it a large headache, at least when combined with hard achievements like this.

It leaves nearly no time to do anything else in the game, when you got to focus so much on these updates, that on the bright side will keep you busy, but on the downside, way too much. I applaud that they want to give us things to do, I do and I appreciate that, but every two weeks seems like it’ll be a bit too much.

Most of what I wrote back then came true, at least as I experience it. I still applaud the fact that they wish to provide us with things to do, and the rate at which they are releasing these updates in are pretty much unprecedented within the industry. However, the fact that these content updates are temporary, combined with a limited time to “complete them”, makes them end up feeling more like a job I got to stress about, and I ain’t really having all that much fun anymore. There are times when I question myself as to why I am actually still playing, since as soon as I grind my way through the harder achievements, I just end up not wanting to log in at all anymore—I get burnt out. Rinse repeat every two weeks.

There are of course other reasons behind me not really having the same love for the game as I once used to have. The way they handle the Gem Store for one, but that’s a different topic, and not one I’ll drag into this one as well beyond this.

As many others in this topic says, the whole “every two weeks” temporary event-content is not adding to the fun of the game, at least to me. I don’t get the feeling that the world is ever-evolving, or in any way living. It just feels like a game that chucks a load of events at us, then with anything that would be world-changing and help it feel evolving, those things are simply taken out again, leaving barely grains of sand behind to even testify that they once existed. Every two weeks with permanent additions however, now that would be amazing.

Ashen.2907:

Vayne.8563:

Every show you watch on TV is television content, even if they never reply it. If I go see a show, that’s content, even if the show packs up and leaves.

Its a matter of tense. Something that has been removed from the game is not content, but it once was.

If the game no longer contains something then that something is no longer content of the game.

So then Southsun Survival, Crab Toss and sanctum sprint at all content. The Queen’s Gauntlet will come back, so that’s content. SAB came back already, so that’s content. Halloween is around the corner, that’s coming back…that’s content. In fact the four “festivals” are are content.

Then you have the new jumping puzzle in Gendarran Fields, Moa Races, The Scarlet Invasions, all content.

The problem is people just aren’t thinking that far ahead. Just about every single living story left something behind. In two years the game would be crazy. The player base would be too divided and it would suck.

As it is, there’s plenty of content now. Today we have the new Tquatl, and that’s also content.

There’s plenty of new permanent content.

Just another glowing example of the moniker you can’t please everyone. So many mmos have had forums filled with complaints that they aren’t adding new content fast enough. Now a game does it every two weeks and thats too fast.

New Flash: You don;t have to do the living world content. Take a break a skip an event if yo want, since more thna half of them are available for the full month these days you can always come back in the second part and do it. Look at SAB its still open until the end of the month so you can go back and complete things. Not getting every achievement for a living world category is not the end of the world. Play the game in a way thats fun for you. and ignore all the players saying you must play it this way or that way or have the highest achievement score or work on a legendary or get this or that, just have fun.

Astral Projections.7320:

Seriously, they need to have time between these events where nothing happens. Let people decompress, do dungeons, level alts, stand around in LA, whatever. It’s one thing to visit a carnival. It’s another to live in one

Perfect. Particularly “It’s one thing to visit a carnival. It’s another to live in one”… but the whole quote is nice. Whats wrong with a few weeks of just regular guild wars. No themes, no silly looking NPCs…just playing guild wars. Is there something so wrong with that?

I both agree and disagree with OP. First of all, every two weeks is fine as long as the content is two-weeks’ worth. Not one person here can say this Tequatl LS release is too much content to complete in 2 weeks because it isn’t. It’s a boss fight, that’s it. No dungeons, no grinding this or that. It’s 100% doable in the time frame.

SAB: This is released for 4 weeks. Also plenty of time to complete every bit of content.

So while I agree with the premise of the argument OP is trying to make, I don’t feel it applies here with the current LS releases (SAB and Teq). It seems Anet has listened and is releasing things that can be completed within the time frame. They realized SAB was a lot so it is 4 weeks, updating Teq fight is a 2 week update and is the appropriate amount of content.

Now if SAB was only here for 2 weeks I’d be like “WTF not enough time!” But actually look at the recent releases and you will see that Anet is indeed doing what they can to make it easier on casuals.

At least from my point of view.

I disagree. You say you worry about “falling behind” in a game with almost no gear power scaling. I fail to see the logic behind this.

OP is talking about this missed chance at the carrots arenanet dangles with these updates. The minis, the achievement points (because they do matter now), the titles, etc.

Some people do care about those sorts of things and if he doesnt have the time to complete these events at his pace playing his way(as we have been told we can do in guild wars 2), then he will most certainly miss out.

Power scaling has nothing to do with this conversation.

Zeldain.5710:

tanto.4217:

first game ever to get complaints about to much content too fast :P

No, WoW is the owner of that title. This past year of updates has been blistering, p;layers can’t even keep up.

Wrath of the Lich King raiders called, they want their year of Icecrown Citadel raiding back.

Content for WoW is not coming out too fast. The quality of the content that is released just gives off that impression because of how garbage it’s become.

gaspara.4079:

…
New Flash: You don;t have to do the living world content.

News flash? It’s not even true.

In order to keep up with the game, you MUST complete achievements, and that means LS. The further behind you fall, the harder it is to catch up as the price of the stuff you need goes up.

Like it or not, we are in competition against each other for a limited set of resources. It’s generally a cooperative and friendly competition, but it is nonetheless competition. The losers are the ones who don’t keep up.

… I’m sorry, what do achievements get you that you need to keep up with the game? … Skins? Minis? Titles?

I mean, granted, these are nice, but they aren’t necessary to keep up with the game. The only thing you need is gear and knowing how to play.

cesmode.4257:

OP is talking about this missed chance at the carrots arenanet dangles with these updates. The minis, the achievement points (because they do matter now), the titles, etc.

Some people do care about those sorts of things and if he doesnt have the time to complete these events at his pace playing his way(as we have been told we can do in guild wars 2), then he will most certainly miss out.

Power scaling has nothing to do with this conversation.

Even though I agree, I’ll point out that there is a small amount of power scaling going on. I have 5 characters I play regularly, and 3 of them have finished the campaign. But, none of them have a full set of ascended and exotic gear. So, I am indeed trying to get more gear.

Some people have gone through and taken one character to the top and then fully geared him or her out. I’m sure if I pushed one character’s gear I could top her out, but I like playing in different places, seeing different sights, finding the new events they’ve dropped into some zones, etc.

In fact, the closest of my characters to “perfect” gear just got reamed by the magic find stuff. So, I’m going to have to push again and re-gear. :p

Kirschwasser.3972:

… I’m sorry, what do achievements get you that you need to keep up with the game? … Skins? Minis? Titles?

I mean, granted, these are nice, but they aren’t necessary to keep up with the game. The only thing you need is gear and knowing how to play.

Money. Rare items (to salvage). Occasionally an exotic. I don’t play for the minis (although I don’t fault those who do). I play for the chance of bettering my character (at my age, bettering my gaming skills is pretty much impossible, or I would include that). I get that bettering via chests and achievements and dailies. And, judging by the price of things, I don’t do nearly well enough to keep up with the game.

gaspara.4079:

Just another glowing example of the moniker you can’t please everyone. So many mmos have had forums filled with complaints that they aren’t adding new content fast enough. Now a game does it every two weeks and thats too fast.

New Flash: You don;t have to do the living world content. Take a break a skip an event if yo want, since more thna half of them are available for the full month these days you can always come back in the second part and do it. Look at SAB its still open until the end of the month so you can go back and complete things. Not getting every achievement for a living world category is not the end of the world. Play the game in a way thats fun for you. and ignore all the players saying you must play it this way or that way or have the highest achievement score or work on a legendary or get this or that, just have fun.

Although some in this thread have said what you’re citing, there’s an underlying nugget of feedback to the developers, too, that is important:

It’s not that we “have” to play the LW content; it’s that we are NOT (or are gonna STOP, in some cases) playing it – for whatever reason (annoyance, rl time constraints, sense of hopelessness to complete achievements, quality, etc).

If I were the producer, I’d listen hard and long to that, because it means some portion of the population is NOT going to consume a product I have put out… meaning there’s diminished ROI (the most obvious “return” being continued adoption or play time in the game).

I have no idea how many people are religiously playing the LW content, but you can be sure ArenaNet can mine that data. If the combination of the analytics from said mining identifies a relevant lack of adoption, the prudent business decision is to determine “why” – that’s where the forum posts come in.

Daddicus.6128:

gaspara.4079:

…
New Flash: You don;t have to do the living world content.

News flash? It’s not even true.

In order to keep up with the game, you MUST complete achievements, and that means LS. The further behind you fall, the harder it is to catch up as the price of the stuff you need goes up.

Like it or not, we are in competition against each other for a limited set of resources. It’s generally a cooperative and friendly competition, but it is nonetheless competition. The losers are the ones who don’t keep up.

Keep up with who? Why is it a competition? Just because you said it was?

I can tell you I have over 1300 hours logged and I have never once been in this competition you speak of. I play the game to have fun and only that, if something isn’t fun I stop doing it. I have multiple level 80s all of which are in full exotics but none of which have a single piece of ascended gear because honestly its not that big a deal.

My main point is if your playing this game to better you characters but intentionally doing so at the cost of your enjoyment then maybe you need to reassess your priorities. Unless your being paid to play the game you should be playing it to better your own enjoyment of life which seems to be the opposite of what your doing, letting it stress you out to the point you need to rant on the forums.

KarateKid I understand your argument but the fact of the matter is they are attempting to please everyone as much as possible, for better or worse. The hardcore 5+hr/night players need content changes at this rate to keep their attention but more casual players feel they should not miss out on anything at all just because they can’t or won’t invest the time.

Daddicus.6128:

Money. Rare items (to salvage). Occasionally an exotic. I don’t play for the minis (although I don’t fault those who do). I play for the chance of bettering my character (at my age, bettering my gaming skills is pretty much impossible, or I would include that). I get that bettering via chests and achievements and dailies. And, judging by the price of things, I don’t do nearly well enough to keep up with the game.

:-/

The current best sources of gold, rares, and exotics in the game have absolutely nothing to do with the temporary content released as part of the Living Story. This makes me thing that there’s something deeper going on, because essentially, obtaining full exotic gear should become rather trivial, even if you never touch a single living story release.

The idea that you get “left behind” in the sense of some kind of legitimate progression compared to other players by not completing LS release achievements is fallacious. I’d like to try to determine why you believe this to be true and see if I can help.

Love the idea they have by doing the living world updates every two weeks. I know there is a few people who play all day long and complete everything in 1 day. However I am not one of those players. I would like to see them maybe slow it down just a bit. Im not a casual player I play every day and every night however I do work so I don’t pay 24 hours straight. I also very rarely finish each event 100%. If I go out of town or on vacation I miss enough contact that I don’t even bother trying to complete it. Finally many of the events I don’t care for. Some of them are not as appealing to me as some of the others. Adventure box being an example of one I don’t care for.

Hawkian.6580:

:-/

The current best sources of gold, rares, and exotics in the game have absolutely nothing to do with the temporary content released as part of the Living Story. This makes me thing that there’s something deeper going on, because essentially, obtaining full exotic gear should become rather trivial, even if you never touch a single living story release.

The idea that you get “left behind” in the sense of some kind of legitimate progression compared to other players by not completing LS release achievements is fallacious. I’d like to try to determine why you believe this to be true and see if I can help.

This is pretty basic economics. In the in-game economy, prices go up. Why? Because there is competition on the demand side that outweighs the supply. If I don’t have the resources to compete, I fall behind.

For example, I will never be able to buy a legendary, because the prices will keep going up faster than I can generate income. While I was earning more recently than when I started, the prices are accelerating faster than I can keep up.

Only basement dwellers can do it all. Who cares? I say the more content the better, regardless if I can play it. Which I really can’t lately. Been too busy IRL.

Honestly if you barely have the time to play the game, one has to question why you’re playing an MMO. You are going to fall behind in MMOs. Period.

You’re really better off playing a single-player RPG or an RPG with multiplayer elements.

Daddicus.6128:

Hawkian.6580:

:-/

The current best sources of gold, rares, and exotics in the game have absolutely nothing to do with the temporary content released as part of the Living Story. This makes me thing that there’s something deeper going on, because essentially, obtaining full exotic gear should become rather trivial, even if you never touch a single living story release.

The idea that you get “left behind” in the sense of some kind of legitimate progression compared to other players by not completing LS release achievements is fallacious. I’d like to try to determine why you believe this to be true and see if I can help.

This is pretty basic economics. In the in-game economy, prices go up. Why? Because there is competition on the demand side that outweighs the supply. If I don’t have the resources to compete, I fall behind.

For example, I will never be able to buy a legendary, because the prices will keep going up faster than I can generate income. While I was earning more recently than when I started, the prices are accelerating faster than I can keep up.

Basic economics. First off all, you didn’t mention a word about legendary prices. You specifically mentioned the acquisition of gold, rares, and exotics as being tied to living story achievements. This is known as “moving the goalposts.”

But let’s run with it, and attempt to determine if there’s substantial validity to your new claim. Take a look at Spark, the precursor: http://www.gw2spidy.com/item/29167 So far as I can tell, its all-time high in terms of sell price came in April, or 5 months ago. If you wanted to buy it right now for market price, it would cost you ~40 gold less than it would have back then. While it’s not cheaper today than it was one month ago, the deviation in the August->Sept period is smaller, for example, than in the Jan->Feb period. There’s little to indicate that it will simply continue to increase in price arbitrarily.

Or look at buying The Bifrost outright (how fun -_-): http://www.gw2spidy.com/item/30698 If you’d wanted it back in December when supply really was tiny, you’d have been paying well over 5000 gold. However after the Jan. mark, sell prices became relatively stable for the following 8 months, and actually hit its all-time low about a month ago.

So generally speaking that argument is totally unsupported by reality. Prices will continue to fluctuate with all kinds of quirks but saying “prices will keep going up faster than I can generate income” is an unfounded claim of runaway inflation that just isn’t occurring. Gold generation has increased substantially, but additional gold sinks have been added as well, while significant ones such as commander tags, cultural armor and so on have remained fixed.

Just to quickly revisit your original point about the opportunity to better your character…

1. The most efficient source of direct, non-investment gold is gonna be champ farming, followed by dungeons, followed by invasions and finally activities.
2. The best source of rares is the daily bonus events, followed again by dungeons, fractals, or buying on the TP if you have a specific need (see point 1).
2a. These rares can also be sold outright for profit or broken down with a good salvage kit into materials and ectoplasm (which can in turn be sold for profit as well).
3. The best source of exotics will be (depending on desired stats) dungeons, followed by crafting, the karma vendors in Orr, buying outright on the TP (see points 1 and 2a), and finally fractals.
4. Ascended amulets, rings, and accessories are best obtained through laurels/badges of honor, fractals, and guild missions respectively.

None of these aspects of the game are restricted or related to the two-week release content and in many cases “keeping up” with a particular release will carry a substantial opportunity cost in terms of acquiring these things (SAB, for example, does not offer much in the way of obtaining anything described above). Of course, with this in mind, such content should only be touched if it’s enjoyable to you personally.

Hope this defuses some of your concerns.